Lakeside Middle

Lakeside Middle is a sprawling junior high in Perris, California, operated by Val Verde Unified. The school works with 1,076 students in grades 7 through 8. By comparison, California's public schools average about 659 students each, so Lakeside Middle sits 63% bigger than that benchmark.

Across the 22 schools in Val Verde Unified (19,065 students total), Lakeside Middle accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

On demographics, Lakeside Middle reports that nearly all students (82%) are Hispanic. Other groups include 9% Black, 4% multiracial, 3% White. The wider county runs roughly 51% Hispanic, putting the school's mix visibly more Hispanic than the area baseline.

On the resource side, The school currently runs with 48 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 22.3:1. The state averages around 20.7:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. Around 86% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is noticeably above Riverside County's rate of about 74%.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Lakeside Middle performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 28.1%, the actual is 23.9%, a residual of -4.2 points.

In the area at large, ACS estimates for Riverside County put median household income runs about $93,074, about 26% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and roughly 8% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across Riverside County's 543 public schools (combined enrollment of about 424,872 students), Lakeside Middle is one campus in the mix.

Sierra Vista Elementary is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.2 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Lakeside Middle. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Lakeside Middle at 9th of 9; the average score across the group is 36.5%.

The school occupies an outlying site.

Over the past 7-year window. Lakeside Middle's enrollment has decreased 14% since 2018, when it stood at 1,258 (now 1,076). Class-load math has fell: from 26.8:1 in 2018 to 22.3:1 in 2025.

Within the allk12 community for this school, members of the Lakeside Middle community share and discuss classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.