Santa Monica Alternative (K-8)

Santa Monica Alternative (K-8) is a cozy K-5 school in Santa Monica, California, overseen by Santa Monica-Malibu Unified. The school enrolls 216 students in grades K through 8. By comparison, California's public schools average about 465 students each, so Santa Monica Alternative (K-8) sits 54% smaller than that benchmark.

Santa Monica Alternative (K-8) is one of 15 schools operated by Santa Monica-Malibu Unified, a district that teaches 8,616 students overall.

Looking at the student body, Santa Monica Alternative (K-8) logs that 56% of the student body identifies as White. The remainder comes out to 16% Hispanic, 15% multiracial, 9% Asian, 4% Black. By comparison, Los Angeles County as a whole is about 31% White, so the school skews noticeably more White than its surroundings.

On the income-and-resources front, Santa Monica Alternative (K-8) reports 12 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 18.5:1. The state averages around 22.3:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. An estimated 15% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. Set against Los Angeles County (around 70%), the school's rate is somewhat below typical.

Zooming out to the county, Los Angeles County reports that median household earnings sit near $90,112, 36% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and roughly 10% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Santa Monica Alternative (K-8) is one of 2244 public schools in Los Angeles County (combined enrollment of about 1,265,907 students).

Nearest neighbor: Olympic High (Continuation), around 0.2 miles off. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools.

The school occupies an inner-city site.

Over the past 7-year window. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Santa Monica Alternative (K-8) has contracted 4%, going from 224 students in 2018 to 216 in 2025. The Asian share of enrollment ticked up from 2% to 9% over that span. The student-to-teacher ratio narrowed from 22.4:1 in 2018 to 18.5:1 today.

In the discussion threads here, members of the Santa Monica Alternative (K-8) community share and discuss classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Members of the school community can share what they know.