Vista del Mar Elementary

As a reasonably sized primary school in San Clemente, California, Vista del Mar Elementary instructs 692 students from grades K through 5, part of Capistrano Unified. That puts it 49% above the typical public school in California, which averages around 465 students.

Capistrano Unified comprises 58 schools with combined enrollment of 40,251 students; Vista del Mar Elementary is among them.

On the student-mix side, Vista del Mar Elementary records that White students make up the majority at 66%. The remainder is composed of 16% Hispanic, 14% multiracial, 3% Asian. By comparison, Orange County as a whole is about 43% White, so the school skews meaningfully more White than its surroundings.

Looking at school resources, The school employs 26 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 26.6:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 22.3:1, putting Vista del Mar Elementary higher than the state norm the norm. About 15% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. That share is lower than Orange County's rate of about 55%.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Vista del Mar Elementary sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 70.8%; this one delivers 75.8%.

In the broader community, the surrounding county (Orange County) records that median household income runs about $116,289, about 44% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 7%. In all, Orange County runs 649 public schools (combined enrollment of about 430,458 students), of which Vista del Mar Elementary is one.

Vista del Mar Middle is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.0 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Vista del Mar Elementary. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Vista del Mar Elementary ranks 1st on composite proficiency, above the local average of 59.3%.

Vista del Mar Elementary operates from a commuter-belt location.

Trend over the last 7 years. Vista del Mar Elementary's enrollment has shrank 34% since 2018, when it stood at 1,049 (now 692). White enrollment moved from 77% to 66% across the same window. The student-to-teacher ratio tightened from 30.0:1 in 2018 to 26.6:1 today.

On this page, posts here usually surface around sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.