Don Stowell Elementary

Don Stowell Elementary is one of the mid-sized elementary schools in Merced, California, overseen by Merced City Elementary, with 501 students on its rolls from grades K through 6.

Merced City Elementary comprises 19 schools with combined enrollment of 11,108 students; Don Stowell Elementary is among them.

On the student-mix side, Don Stowell Elementary records that the student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic (87%). The remainder consists of 5% Black, 3% White, 2% Asian, 2% multiracial. By comparison, Merced County as a whole is about 63% Hispanic, so the school skews meaningfully more Hispanic than its surroundings.

Looking at the economic backdrop, Don Stowell Elementary shows 23 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 21.8:1. That tracks the state average closely. About 96% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. By comparison, Merced County runs at roughly 81%, so the school's eligibility rate is somewhat above the surrounding baseline.

With demographic context factored in, Don Stowell Elementary sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 22.3%; this one delivers 15.9%.

Zooming out to the county, ACS estimates for Merced County put median household income runs about $65,510, 15% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and roughly 16% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Don Stowell Elementary is one of 117 public schools in Merced County (combined enrollment of about 59,456 students).

Sequoia High is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.6 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Don Stowell Elementary. Among the 5 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Don Stowell Elementary ranks 5th on composite proficiency, behind the local average of 24.7%.

The campus sits in a downtown setting.

Trend over the last 7 years. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Don Stowell Elementary has contracted 17%, going from 605 students in 2018 to 501 in 2025. The student-to-teacher ratio narrowed from 25.8:1 in 2018 to 21.8:1 today.

On the community side, members of the Don Stowell Elementary community share and discuss fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.