Toro Park Elementary

Set in Salinas, California, Toro Park Elementary is a compact primary school, run under Washington Union Elementary. It instructs 341 students across grades K through 3. By comparison, California's public schools average about 465 students each, so Toro Park Elementary sits 27% below that benchmark.

Across the 3 schools in Washington Union Elementary (756 students total), Toro Park Elementary accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

On demographics, Toro Park Elementary reports that 53% of students identify as White, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups; the rest breaks down as 29% Hispanic, 12% multiracial, 4% Asian. By comparison, Monterey County as a whole is about 36% White, so the school skews noticeably more White than its surroundings.

On the income-and-resources front, On paper, Toro Park Elementary has 16 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 21.3:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 22.3:1, putting Toro Park Elementary tighter than the state norm the norm. Roughly 10% of students at Toro Park Elementary qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. Set against Monterey County (around 76%), the school's rate is somewhat below typical.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Toro Park Elementary tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 73.6% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 65.0%.

In the broader community, Monterey County reports that median household earnings sit near $97,230, 28% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 10%. In all, Monterey County runs 153 public schools (combined enrollment of about 73,845 students), of which Toro Park Elementary is one.

San Benancio Middle is the nearest neighboring public school, about 1.4 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 4 other public schools cluster around Toro Park Elementary. Among the 8 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Toro Park Elementary ranks 1st on composite proficiency, ahead of the local average of 41.2%.

Geographically, the school is in a countryside area.

Over the past 7-year window. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Toro Park Elementary has shrank 12%, going from 386 students in 2018 to 341 in 2025. White enrollment moved from 62% to 53% across the same window. Class-load math has tightened: from 22.7:1 in 2018 to 21.3:1 in 2025.

On allk12, members of the Toro Park Elementary community share and discuss open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.