Shirley Lane Elementary

Shirley Lane Elementary operates as a middle-of-the-pack elementary school in Bakersfield, California, part of Fairfax Elementary. Current enrollment sits at 617 students spanning grades K through 6. Compared to the state average of about 465 students per school, that is 33% larger than typical.

Fairfax Elementary comprises 4 schools with combined enrollment of 2,667 students; Shirley Lane Elementary is among them.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Shirley Lane Elementary logs that the student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic (92%). Other groups include 4% White. The wider county runs roughly 57% Hispanic, putting the school's mix meaningfully more Hispanic than the area baseline.

In terms of school funding signals, The school reports having 28 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 22.0:1. The state averages about 22.3:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. About 100% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. Set against Kern County (around 76%), the school's rate is noticeably above typical.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Shirley Lane Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 20.2%, the actual is 31.7%, a residual of +11.5 points.

Zooming out to the county, ACS estimates for Kern County put median household income runs about $70,210, about 19% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 15%. Shirley Lane Elementary is one of 279 public schools in Kern County (combined enrollment of about 197,431 students).

The closest other public school is Fairfax Junior High, roughly 0.3 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Shirley Lane Elementary at 1st of 8; the average score across the group is 22.0%.

Shirley Lane Elementary operates from a bedroom-community location.

Looking at the recent track record. Shirley Lane Elementary's enrollment has declined 10% since 2018, when it stood at 688 (now 617). Over the same period, the Hispanic share grew from 87% to 92%.

In the discussion threads here, posts here usually surface around science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.