Saul Martinez Elementary

Located at 65-705 Johnson St., in Mecca, California, Saul Martinez Elementary is a well-populated K-5 school that enrolls 961 students (grades K through 6), one of the schools within Coachella Valley Unified. Enrollment runs roughly 107% bigger than the state mean of about 465.

Coachella Valley Unified runs 21 schools in total, collectively educating 15,817 students. Saul Martinez Elementary is one of those campuses.

On demographics, Saul Martinez Elementary lists that 99% of students identify as Hispanic, making the school strongly Hispanic-majority. That is noticeably more Hispanic than the county at large, where the share is closer to 51%.

On the income-and-resources front, The school employs 41 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 23.3:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 22.3:1 average. Roughly 96% of students at Saul Martinez Elementary qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. Set against Riverside County (around 74%), the school's rate is meaningfully above typical.

With demographic context factored in, Saul Martinez Elementary sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 22.5%; this one delivers 23.9%.

Across the wider county, ACS estimates for Riverside County put median household income runs about $93,074, 26% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 8%. Saul Martinez Elementary is one of 543 public schools in Riverside County (combined enrollment of about 424,872 students).

The closest other public school is Mecca Elementary, roughly 0.8 miles away. Within ten miles, there are 8 other public schools, a sparser pattern than typical urban areas. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Saul Martinez Elementary at 3rd of 8; the average score across the group is 20.0%.

Saul Martinez Elementary operates from a small-town location.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count decreased 12%: 1,087 students in 2018 compared to 961 in 2025.

In the discussion threads here, the feed for Saul Martinez Elementary typically covers fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.