Paloma Elementary

Paloma Elementary operates as a heavily attended elementary campus in San Marcos, California, operated by San Marcos Unified. Current enrollment sits at 758 students spanning grades K through 5. By comparison, California's public schools average about 465 students each, so Paloma Elementary sits 63% bigger than that benchmark.

Across the 19 schools in San Marcos Unified (18,837 students total), Paloma Elementary accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

On the student-mix side, Paloma Elementary records that 37% of students identify as Hispanic, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups. The remainder consists of 33% White, 17% Asian, 10% multiracial. That mix tracks the wider county fairly closely.

Looking at school resources, On paper, Paloma Elementary has 34 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 22.3:1. The state averages about 22.3:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. About 31% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. Set against San Diego County (around 54%), the school's rate is meaningfully below typical.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Paloma Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 60.8%, the actual is 74.9%, a residual of +14.1 points.

In the surrounding community, the surrounding county (San Diego County) records that median household income runs about $106,268, roughly 43% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 7% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Paloma Elementary is one of 766 public schools in San Diego County (combined enrollment of about 467,437 students).

Nearest neighbor: San Marcos Middle, around 1.1 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Paloma Elementary. Among the 6 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Paloma Elementary ranks 1st on composite proficiency, above the local average of 35.3%.

The campus sits in a residential setting.

Over the past 7-year window. Over the past 7-year window, the student count decreased 17%: 911 students in 2018 compared to 758 in 2025. White enrollment moved from 44% to 33% across the same window.

On this page, members of the Paloma Elementary community share and discuss classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Members of the school community can share what they know.