R. O. Hardin Elementary

Located at 881 Line St., in Hollister, California, R. O. Hardin Elementary is a reasonably sized elementary campus that teaches 461 students (grades K through 5), part of Hollister.

Hollister runs 10 schools in total, collectively educating 5,908 students. R. O. Hardin Elementary is one of those campuses.

Looking at the student body, R. O. Hardin Elementary shows that nearly all students (90%) are Hispanic. The remainder is composed of 4% multiracial, 3% White. The wider county runs roughly 62% Hispanic, putting the school's mix considerably more Hispanic than the area baseline.

Looking at school resources, The school lists 20 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 23.1:1. The state averages around 22.3:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. Roughly 84% of students at R. O. Hardin Elementary qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. That share is north of San Benito County's rate of about 60%.

With demographic context factored in, R. O. Hardin Elementary falls in the UNDERPERFORMING tier of the BeatsExpectations residual. Given its student profile, a typical campus would land near 29.2%; this one comes in at 13.3%, -15.9 points off the demographic line.

Across the wider county, the surrounding county (San Benito County) logs that the typical household earns roughly $114,394 per year, roughly 24% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 5% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across San Benito County's 28 public schools (combined enrollment of about 11,633 students), R. O. Hardin Elementary is one campus in the mix.

Hollister Prep is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.0 miles from this campus. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts R. O. Hardin Elementary at 5th of 5; the average score across the group is 42.3%.

Geographically, the school is in a town-center area.

Over the past 7-year window. Over the past 7-year window, the student count expanded 5%: 437 students in 2018 compared to 461 in 2025. Class-load math has fell: from 24.8:1 in 2018 to 23.1:1 in 2025.

On the community side, members of the R. O. Hardin Elementary community share and discuss enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. Members of the school community can share what they know.