Pauma Elementary

Pauma Elementary operates as an intimate primary school in Pauma Valley, California, overseen by Valley Center-Pauma Unified. Current enrollment sits at 245 students spanning grades K through 8. Enrollment runs roughly 47% smaller than the state mean of about 465.

Across the 8 schools in Valley Center-Pauma Unified (3,630 students total), Pauma Elementary accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

Demographically, Pauma Elementary shows that Hispanic students make up the majority at 78%; the rest is composed of 17% Native American, 4% White. By comparison, San Diego County as a whole is about 35% Hispanic, so the school skews meaningfully more Hispanic than its surroundings.

Looking at the economic backdrop, Staff filings list 11 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 22.2:1 students per teacher. That tracks the state average closely. Around 77% 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 San Diego County's rate of about 54%.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Pauma Elementary falls in the UNDERPERFORMING tier of the BeatsExpectations residual. Given its student profile, a typical campus would land near 33.8%; this one comes in at 12.8%, -21.0 points off the demographic line.

In the surrounding community, community-level numbers for San Diego County indicate median household income runs about $106,268, 43% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 7%. Pauma Elementary is one of 766 public schools in San Diego County (combined enrollment of about 467,437 students).

Oak Glen High is the nearest neighboring public school, about 2.8 miles from this campus. 4 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, Pauma Elementary comes 4th of 4 in the immediate cluster, behind the nearby-schools average of 28.8%.

The campus sits in a small-town setting.

Trend over the last 7 years. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Pauma Elementary has edged up 8%, going from 226 students in 2018 to 245 in 2025.

Within the allk12 community for this school, the feed for Pauma Elementary typically covers sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.