Golden Hills Elementary

Golden Hills Elementary, a tight-knit elementary campus in Oroville, California, run under Palermo Union Elementary, hosts 274 students, covering grades 4 through 5. By comparison, California's public schools average about 465 students each, so Golden Hills Elementary sits 41% leaner than that benchmark.

Across the 5 schools in Palermo Union Elementary (1,343 students total), Golden Hills Elementary accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

On demographics, Golden Hills Elementary records that the largest single group is White at 43%, but no single group is in the majority; the rest breaks down as 38% Hispanic, 11% multiracial, 4% Asian, 4% Native American. That is meaningfully less White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 70%.

In terms of school funding signals, Staff filings list 10 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 26.6:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 22.3:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. Around 85% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. That share is north of Butte County's rate of about 63%.

After controlling for student poverty, Golden Hills Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 29.1%, the actual is 23.8%, a residual of -5.2 points.

In the surrounding community, community-level numbers for Butte County indicate the typical household earns roughly $67,928 per year, 32% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 12%. Across Butte County's 96 public schools (combined enrollment of about 29,730 students), Golden Hills Elementary is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is Helen M. Wilcox Elementary, roughly 0.2 miles away. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. Among the 7 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Golden Hills Elementary ranks 4th on composite proficiency, beneath the local average of 26.0%.

Geographically, the school is in a town-based area.

Over the past 7-year window. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Golden Hills Elementary has contracted 7%, going from 295 students in 2018 to 274 in 2025. Hispanic enrollment moved from 33% to 38% across the same window. Class-load math has narrowed: from 30.3:1 in 2018 to 26.6:1 in 2025.

On the community side, recent activity here tends to focus on enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. Members of the school community can share what they know.