James Madison Elementary

As a medium-sized elementary school in Indio, California, James Madison Elementary works with 403 students from grades K through 5, operated by Desert Sands Unified.

Desert Sands Unified comprises 34 schools with combined enrollment of 25,613 students; James Madison Elementary is among them.

On the student-mix side, James Madison Elementary reports that the student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic (89%). Beyond that, the school reports 8% multiracial. That is considerably more Hispanic than the county at large, where the share is closer to 51%.

Looking at school resources, Staff filings list 17 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 23.7:1 students per teacher. That figure is higher than the state norm's 22.3:1 average. About 94% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. Set against Riverside County (around 74%), the school's rate is noticeably above typical.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, James Madison Elementary sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 23.8%; this one delivers 18.8%.

Zooming out to the county, census data for Riverside County shows median household income runs about $93,074, 26% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 8%. In all, Riverside County runs 543 public schools (combined enrollment of about 424,872 students), of which James Madison Elementary is one.

The closest other public school is Indio Middle, roughly 0.6 miles away. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), James Madison Elementary ranks 6th on composite proficiency, below the local average of 24.4%.

The campus sits in a bedroom-community setting.

Looking at the recent track record. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at James Madison Elementary has contracted 25%, going from 540 students in 2018 to 403 in 2025. The White share of enrollment ticked down from 7% to 2% over that span. The student-to-teacher ratio tightened from 25.7:1 in 2018 to 23.7:1 today.

Within the allk12 community for this school, members of the James Madison Elementary community share and discuss school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. Members of the school community can share what they know.