Freedom Elementary

Located at 25 Holly Dr., in Freedom, California, Freedom Elementary is a medium-sized primary school that enrolls 479 students (grades K through 5), run under Pajaro Valley Unified.

Across the 33 schools in Pajaro Valley Unified (16,482 students total), Freedom Elementary accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

Demographically, Freedom Elementary shows that nearly all students (95%) are Hispanic. The remainder comes out to 4% White. By comparison, Santa Cruz County as a whole is about 35% Hispanic, so the school skews noticeably more Hispanic than its surroundings.

Looking at school resources, Freedom Elementary logs 20 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 24.6:1. The state averages around 22.3:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. An estimated 91% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. Set against Santa Cruz County (around 52%), the school's rate is noticeably above typical.

After controlling for student poverty, Freedom Elementary tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 25.0% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 16.0%.

Zooming out to the county, the surrounding county (Santa Cruz County) reports that median household earnings sit near $111,093, 44% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and roughly 6% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across Santa Cruz County's 83 public schools (combined enrollment of about 36,316 students), Freedom Elementary is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is Rolling Hills Middle, roughly 0.5 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, Freedom Elementary comes 5th of 8 in the immediate cluster, below the nearby-schools average of 20.8%.

The school occupies an inner-city site.

Over the past 7-year window. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Freedom Elementary has contracted 25%, going from 640 students in 2018 to 479 in 2025. Class-load math has rose: from 22.9:1 in 2018 to 24.6:1 in 2025.

In the discussion threads here, recent activity here tends to focus on classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Members of the school community can share what they know.