Virginia Peterson Elementary

Virginia Peterson Elementary, a mid-tier elementary campus in Paso Robles, California, part of Paso Robles Joint Unified, instructs 461 students, covering grades K through 6.

Across the 12 schools in Paso Robles Joint Unified (6,902 students total), Virginia Peterson Elementary accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

On demographics, Virginia Peterson Elementary records that 63% of the student body identifies as Hispanic. Beyond that, the school lists 26% White, 6% multiracial, 2% Black. The wider county runs roughly 25% Hispanic, putting the school's mix considerably more Hispanic than the area baseline.

Looking at the economic backdrop, The school currently runs with 20 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 22.6:1. That tracks the state average closely. Around 70% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, often used as a Title I proxy. By comparison, San Luis Obispo County runs at roughly 54%, so the school's eligibility rate is above the surrounding baseline.

After controlling for student poverty, Virginia Peterson Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 37.6%, the actual is 31.4%, a residual of -6.2 points.

Zooming out to the county, community-level numbers for San Luis Obispo County indicate median household income runs about $97,446, roughly 40% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 6% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across San Luis Obispo County's 83 public schools (combined enrollment of about 33,339 students), Virginia Peterson Elementary is one campus in the mix.

Almond Acres Charter Academy is the nearest neighboring public school, about 1.2 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Virginia Peterson Elementary. On composite proficiency, Virginia Peterson Elementary comes 5th of 6 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 35.4%.

The school occupies an inner-city site.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count edged up 5%: 440 students in 2018 compared to 461 in 2025. Over the same period, the Hispanic share edged down from 69% to 63%. Class-load math has narrowed: from 23.8:1 in 2018 to 22.6:1 in 2025.

Within the allk12 community for this school, members of the Virginia Peterson Elementary community share and discuss school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.