Paul L. Cato Middle

As a moderately sized 6-8 campus in Bakersfield, California, Paul L. Cato Middle serves 694 students from grades 6 through 8, overseen by Bakersfield City.

Within Bakersfield City, which oversees 44 schools and 28,365 students, Paul L. Cato Middle is one campus in the system.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Paul L. Cato Middle logs that 72% of the student body identifies as Hispanic. Beyond that, the school logs 19% White, 4% Asian, 3% Black. The wider county runs roughly 57% Hispanic, putting the school's mix meaningfully more Hispanic than the area baseline.

Looking at school resources, Staff filings list 31 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 22.6:1 students per teacher. That figure is higher than the state norm's 20.7:1 average. An estimated 54% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. Set against Kern County (around 76%), the school's rate is noticeably below typical.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Paul L. Cato Middle performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 47.6%, the actual is 41.4%, a residual of -6.2 points.

In the broader community, ACS estimates for Kern County put the typical household earns roughly $70,210 per year, 19% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 15%. Paul L. Cato Middle is one of 279 public schools in Kern County (combined enrollment of about 197,431 students).

The closest other public school is Dr. Douglas K. Fletcher Elementary, roughly 0.1 miles away. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Paul L. Cato Middle ranks 3rd on composite proficiency, above the local average of 29.8%.

The campus sits in a downtown setting.

Looking at the recent track record. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Paul L. Cato Middle has fell 27%, going from 949 students in 2018 to 694 in 2025. Hispanic enrollment moved from 76% to 72% across the same window. The student-to-teacher ratio fell from 26.3:1 in 2018 to 22.6:1 today.

On the community side, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.