Mary McLeod Bethune Elementary

Mary McLeod Bethune Elementary is one of the mid-tier K-5 schools in Moreno Valley, California, one of the schools within Val Verde Unified, with 639 students on its rolls from grades K through 5. By comparison, California's public schools average about 465 students each, so Mary McLeod Bethune Elementary sits 37% above that benchmark.

Val Verde Unified runs 22 schools in total, collectively educating 19,065 students. Mary McLeod Bethune Elementary is one of those campuses.

On the student-mix side, Mary McLeod Bethune Elementary records that the largest single group is Hispanic, at 74% of enrollment; the rest consists of 16% Black, 4% White, 3% Asian, 3% 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 32 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 19.7:1 students per teacher. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 22.3:1, putting Mary McLeod Bethune Elementary tighter than the state norm the norm. 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 north of Riverside County's rate of about 74%.

After controlling for student poverty, Mary McLeod Bethune Elementary tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 28.4% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 37.9%.

In the area at large, community-level numbers for Riverside County indicate median household earnings sit near $93,074, about 26% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 8%. In all, Riverside County runs 543 public schools (combined enrollment of about 424,872 students), of which Mary McLeod Bethune Elementary is one.

The closest other public school is Vista Verde Middle, roughly 0.4 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Mary McLeod Bethune Elementary ranks 2nd on composite proficiency, above the local average of 31.1%.

Geographically, the school is in a residential area.

Five-year trend. Mary McLeod Bethune Elementary's enrollment has changed only slightly since 2018, when it stood at 645 (now 639). The Black share of enrollment declined from 23% to 16% over that span. The student-to-teacher ratio tightened from 24.8:1 in 2018 to 19.7:1 today.

In the discussion threads here, posts here usually surface around science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.