Santa Lucia Middle

Santa Lucia Middle operates as an one-room-style junior high in Cambria, California, overseen by Coast Unified. Current enrollment sits at 112 students spanning grades 6 through 8. Compared to the state average of about 659 students per school, that is 83% leaner than typical.

Across the 4 schools in Coast Unified (478 students total), Santa Lucia Middle accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

Looking at the student body, Santa Lucia Middle records that the largest single group is Hispanic, at 76% of enrollment; the rest looks like 19% White, 4% multiracial. By comparison, San Luis Obispo County as a whole is about 25% Hispanic, so the school skews noticeably more Hispanic than its surroundings.

Looking at the economic backdrop, Staff filings list 10 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 11.6:1 students per teacher. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 20.7:1, putting Santa Lucia Middle tighter than the state norm the norm. Roughly 88% of students at Santa Lucia Middle qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. By comparison, San Luis Obispo County runs at roughly 54%, so the school's eligibility rate is higher than the surrounding baseline.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Santa Lucia Middle performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 27.4%, the actual is 36.6%, a residual of +9.2 points.

In the broader community, census data for San Luis Obispo County shows the typical household earns roughly $97,446 per year, roughly 40% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 6% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Santa Lucia Middle is one of 83 public schools in San Luis Obispo County (combined enrollment of about 33,339 students).

Cambria Grammar is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.5 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 3 other public schools cluster around Santa Lucia Middle. Among the 8 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Santa Lucia Middle ranks 6th on composite proficiency, below the local average of 45.3%.

The campus sits in a countryside setting.

Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count decreased 21%: 141 students in 2018 compared to 112 in 2025. White enrollment moved from 33% to 19% across the same window. Class-load math has pulled in: from 13.5:1 in 2018 to 11.6:1 in 2025.

On this page, the feed for Santa Lucia Middle typically covers fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.