Ontiveros (Juan Pacifico) Elementary

As a sprawling elementary school in Santa Maria, California, Ontiveros (Juan Pacifico) Elementary caters to 869 students from grades K through 6, overseen by Santa Maria-Bonita. Enrollment runs roughly 87% above the state mean of about 465.

Within Santa Maria-Bonita, which oversees 21 schools and 17,408 students, Ontiveros (Juan Pacifico) Elementary is one campus in the system.

On demographics, Ontiveros (Juan Pacifico) Elementary shows that 97% of students identify as Hispanic, making the school strongly Hispanic-majority. That is meaningfully more Hispanic than the county at large, where the share is closer to 48%.

On the resource side, The school lists 35 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 24.8:1. The state averages around 22.3:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. Around 94% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. By comparison, Santa Barbara County runs at roughly 68%, so the school's eligibility rate is above the surrounding baseline.

After controlling for student poverty, Ontiveros (Juan Pacifico) Elementary ranks in the top 10% of California public schools. The BeatsExpectations model, a per-state regression of composite proficiency on FRL share, predicts schools with this student profile to land around 23.3%; Ontiveros (Juan Pacifico) Elementary posts 39.5%, +16.2 points above that line.

In the surrounding community, community-level numbers for Santa Barbara County indicate the typical household earns roughly $98,161 per year, about 37% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 9%. Across Santa Barbara County's 129 public schools (combined enrollment of about 66,191 students), Ontiveros (Juan Pacifico) Elementary is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is Kunst (Tommie) Junior High, roughly 0.6 miles away. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Ontiveros (Juan Pacifico) Elementary at 1st of 9; the average score across the group is 18.9%.

The school occupies a city-core site.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count fell 12%: 987 students in 2018 compared to 869 in 2025.

In the discussion threads here, members of the Ontiveros (Juan Pacifico) Elementary community share and discuss open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.