Gault Elementary

Set in Santa Cruz, California, Gault Elementary is a cozy elementary campus, run under Santa Cruz City Elementary. It educates 314 students across grades K through 5. Compared to the state average of about 465 students per school, that is 32% smaller than typical.

Santa Cruz City Elementary runs 5 schools in total, collectively educating 1,756 students. Gault Elementary is one of those campuses.

Demographically, Gault Elementary shows that the largest single group is Hispanic, at 61% of enrollment; the rest is composed of 32% White, 5% multiracial. By comparison, Santa Cruz County as a whole is about 35% Hispanic, so the school skews visibly more Hispanic than its surroundings.

In terms of school funding signals, Staff filings list 14 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 22.4:1 students per teacher. That tracks the state average closely. An estimated 48% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment.

With demographic context factored in, Gault Elementary tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 50.9% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 39.1%.

In the broader community, the surrounding county (Santa Cruz County) records that median household earnings sit near $111,093, 44% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 6%. Across Santa Cruz County's 83 public schools (combined enrollment of about 36,316 students), Gault Elementary is one campus in the mix.

Santa Cruz City Elementary Alternative Education-Monarch is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.4 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Gault Elementary. On composite proficiency, Gault Elementary comes 5th of 5 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 45.0%.

Geographically, the school is in a city-core area.

Looking at the recent track record. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Gault Elementary has decreased 16%, going from 375 students in 2018 to 314 in 2025.

Inside the community feed, recent activity here tends to focus on enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. The community welcomes input from current and former families.