Shaffer Elementary

Shaffer Elementary is a mid-sized elementary-level community in Atwater, California, part of Atwater Elementary. The school educates 405 students in grades K through 6.

Within Atwater Elementary, which oversees 11 schools and 4,925 students, Shaffer Elementary is one campus in the system.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Shaffer Elementary records that the student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic (80%). Other groups include 12% White, 5% Asian. The wider county runs roughly 63% Hispanic, putting the school's mix noticeably more Hispanic than the area baseline.

On the resource side, Shaffer Elementary records 18 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 22.3:1. That tracks the state average closely. Roughly 81% of students at Shaffer Elementary qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Shaffer Elementary tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 31.3% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 33.4%.

Around the school, census data for Merced County shows median household income runs about $65,510, 15% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 16%. In all, Merced County runs 117 public schools (combined enrollment of about 59,456 students), of which Shaffer Elementary is one.

Thomas Olaeta Elementary is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.6 miles from this campus. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Among the 8 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Shaffer Elementary ranks 6th on composite proficiency, behind the local average of 39.3%.

The school occupies a suburban site.

Over the past 7-year window. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Shaffer Elementary has decreased 28%, going from 564 students in 2018 to 405 in 2025. Hispanic enrollment moved from 68% to 80% across the same window. The student-to-teacher ratio narrowed from 25.1:1 in 2018 to 22.3:1 today.

In the discussion threads here, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Members of the school community can share what they know.