Paakuma K-8

Paakuma K-8, a heavily attended K-5 school in San Bernardino, California, overseen by San Bernardino City Unified, instructs 940 students, covering grades K through 8. Compared to the state average of about 465 students per school, that is 102% bigger than typical.

Paakuma K-8 is one of 72 schools operated by San Bernardino City Unified, a district that caters to 44,080 students overall.

Demographically, Paakuma K-8 logs that Hispanic students make up the majority at 66%; the rest breaks down as 14% White, 9% Black, 5% multiracial, 5% Asian. By comparison, San Bernardino County as a whole is about 55% Hispanic, so the school skews noticeably more Hispanic than its surroundings.

In terms of school funding signals, Paakuma K-8 logs 45 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 20.7:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 22.3:1 average. About 51% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. Set against San Bernardino County (around 74%), the school's rate is south of typical.

After controlling for student poverty, Paakuma K-8 performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 49.3%, the actual is 46.0%, a residual of -3.3 points.

In the surrounding community, the surrounding county (San Bernardino County) logs that median household earnings sit near $85,478, about 23% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 11%. In all, San Bernardino County runs 583 public schools (combined enrollment of about 393,648 students), of which Paakuma K-8 is one.

Nancy R. Kordyak Elementary is the nearest neighboring public school, about 1.6 miles from this campus. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Paakuma K-8 at 2nd of 9; the average score across the group is 37.6%.

The campus sits in a commuter-belt setting.

Looking at the recent track record. Paakuma K-8's enrollment has expanded 9% since 2018, when it stood at 861 (now 940). Class-load math has fell: from 24.6:1 in 2018 to 20.7:1 in 2025.

On allk12, members of the Paakuma K-8 community share and discuss sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.