Westside Union Elementary

Westside Union Elementary is an average-sized elementary campus in Los Banos, California, part of Los Banos Unified. The school serves 573 students in grades K through 6. That puts it 23% bigger than the typical public school in California, which averages around 465 students.

Los Banos Unified runs 16 schools in total, collectively educating 11,020 students. Westside Union Elementary is one of those campuses.

On the student-mix side, Westside Union Elementary lists that 83% of students identify as Hispanic, making the school strongly Hispanic-majority; the rest consists of 10% White, 3% Asian. The wider county runs roughly 63% Hispanic, putting the school's mix meaningfully more Hispanic than the area baseline.

On the income-and-resources front, The school reports having 24 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 23.9:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 22.3:1 average. About 81% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

With demographic context factored in, Westside Union Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 31.4%, the actual is 38.7%, a residual of +7.3 points.

Zooming out to the county, the surrounding county (Merced County) reports that the typical household earns roughly $65,510 per year, roughly 15% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 16% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across Merced County's 117 public schools (combined enrollment of about 59,456 students), Westside Union Elementary is one campus in the mix.

Los Banos Elementary is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.1 miles from this campus. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. Among the 6 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Westside Union Elementary ranks 1st on composite proficiency, ahead of the local average of 22.6%.

Westside Union Elementary operates from a town-center location.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count edged down 18%: 701 students in 2018 compared to 573 in 2025. The Hispanic share of enrollment ticked up from 74% to 83% over that span. The student-to-teacher ratio fell from 27.0:1 in 2018 to 23.9:1 today.

Inside the community feed, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around pickup logistics, teacher feedback, and after-school programs. Members of the school community can share what they know.