De Laveaga Elementary

De Laveaga Elementary is one of the moderately sized K-5 schools in Santa Cruz, California, overseen by Santa Cruz City Elementary, with 481 students on its rolls from grades K through 5.

De Laveaga Elementary is one of 5 schools operated by Santa Cruz City Elementary, a district that educates 1,756 students overall.

Looking at the student body, De Laveaga Elementary lists that the largest single group is White at 46%, but no single group is in the majority. Beyond that, the school records 42% Hispanic, 7% multiracial, 4% Asian. The wider county runs roughly 60% White, putting the school's mix noticeably less White than the area baseline.

Looking at school resources, Staff filings list 20 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 23.6:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 22.3:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. An estimated 28% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is south of Santa Cruz County's rate of about 52%.

With demographic context factored in, De Laveaga Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 63.0%, the actual is 51.4%, a residual of -11.6 points.

Across the wider county, ACS estimates for Santa Cruz County put median household income runs about $111,093, 44% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 6%. De Laveaga Elementary is one of 83 public schools in Santa Cruz County (combined enrollment of about 36,316 students).

The closest other public school is Harbor High, roughly 0.4 miles away. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around De Laveaga Elementary. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts De Laveaga Elementary at 2nd of 6; the average score across the group is 46.0%.

De Laveaga Elementary operates from a downtown location.

Trend over the last 7 years. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at De Laveaga Elementary has edged down 13%, going from 550 students in 2018 to 481 in 2025. The White share of enrollment decreased from 52% to 46% over that span. The student-to-teacher ratio rose from 22.4:1 in 2018 to 23.6:1 today.

On this page, the feed for De Laveaga Elementary typically covers science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.