Cottonwood

Cottonwood is a tight-knit elementary-level community in Aguanga, California, operated by Hemet Unified. The school educates 197 students in grades K through 8. By comparison, California's public schools average about 465 students each, so Cottonwood sits 58% below that benchmark.

Cottonwood is one of 27 schools operated by Hemet Unified, a district that hosts 22,778 students overall.

In terms of who attends, Cottonwood logs that 57% of the student body identifies as Hispanic; the rest looks like 37% White, 4% multiracial.

Looking at school resources, On paper, Cottonwood has 13 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 15.4:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 22.3:1 average. About 74% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Cottonwood sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 35.6%; this one delivers 25.3%.

Around the school, ACS estimates for Riverside County put median household income runs about $93,074, roughly 26% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 8%. In all, Riverside County runs 543 public schools (combined enrollment of about 424,872 students), of which Cottonwood is one.

Nearest neighbor: Tony Tobin Elementary, around 9.2 miles off. 4 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a ten-mile radius, suggesting a relatively low-density school footprint. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Cottonwood ranks 9th on composite proficiency, below the local average of 59.9%.

The campus sits in a rural setting.

Over the past 7-year window. Over the past 7-year window, the student count shrank 16%: 234 students in 2018 compared to 197 in 2025. Hispanic enrollment moved from 49% to 57% across the same window. Class-load math has fell: from 17.3:1 in 2018 to 15.4:1 in 2025.

On allk12, the feed for Cottonwood typically covers school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. Members of the school community can share what they know.