Enrollment
113
California · 2024-25 NCES data
Elementary school (grades K-5) · Solvang, CA
Ballard Elementary
Federal NCES profile for Ballard Elementary, including enrollment, faculty, free-lunch eligibility, demographics, and resource indicators - Resource Investment Index 44/100.
2024-25 NCES dataElementary school (grades K-5)NCES 060372000343
👥 S:T ratio 36
🌟 Gifted program 30
📋 Attendance 67
Scored 0–100 from federal NCES and CRDC indicators, resource allocation, not test scores. Full methodology →
The verdict
Ballard Elementary earns 44/100 on the Resource Investment Index, with class sizes smaller than 86% of California schools.
- 44
- Resource Index · Typical
- 16.1:1
- small classes for California
- 10.2%
- free-lunch eligible
- 113
- students enrolled
Ballard Elementary has class sizes smaller than 86% of California schools. Computed live against every California school reporting to NCES.
School address
District: Ballard Elementary · California
NCES ID 060372000343 Verify on NCES CCD record →
Teachers (FTE)
7.0
Federal CCD staff survey
Students per teacher
16.1:1
vs 21.5:1 California avg
-25% vs state
Free-lunch eligible
10.2%
vs 55.5% California avg
-82% vs state
Student-teacher ratio in context
How Ballard Elementary compares with California and U.S. medians
What stands out at Ballard Elementary
Ballard Elementary is a lower-poverty, small elementary school in Solvang, California, enrolling 113 students.
Classes run notably small here: at 16.1:1, Ballard Elementary is leaner than roughly 86% of California schools and 25% under the state's 21.5:1 norm, more adult attention per pupil than most peers.
Comparatively few students face economic hardship here, 10.2% free-meal eligibility runs 82% below the California average.
Enrollment of 113 puts it in the smaller third of California schools by headcount.
Its Resource Investment Index lands in the upper third of 9,998 scored California schools.
Against 42 statewide peers matched on enrollment and economic need, it ranks in the upper tier at #11.
Its student body is led by White (79%) and Hispanic or Latino (12%) (diversity index 36/100).
13.3% of students were chronically absent in the 2021-22 collection, in line with the post-pandemic national range.
Among Solvang's elementary schools, it stands alongside Solvang Elementary (602 students): Ballard Elementary is smaller than that campus by headcount and runs leaner classes (16.1:1 vs 18.8:1).
Ballard Elementary operates only this one school, so Ballard Elementary has no district-mates to compare against locally.
Sourced from NCES CCD, CRDC, and F-33 (federal records, not a quality verdict). How we source and compute this.
Source: National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data + CRDC + F-33 · 2024-25
How Ballard Elementary compares
Ballard Elementary on the metrics families compare, against California and U.S. means.
| Metric | This school | vs California | California avg | U.S. avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Students per teacher | 16.1:1 | ▼ 25% | 21.5:1 | 15.7:1 |
| Free-lunch eligible | 10.2% | ▼ 82% | 55.5% | 51.7% |
| Enrollment | 113 | top 89% | - | - |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data School-level CCD + state/national means from Public School Universe · 2024-25
16.1:1
Leaner classes than 37% of US schools, a middle-of-the-pack class size.
113
Bigger than 11% of US schools by enrollment, a small campus.
Equity indicators (what these measure)
Economic need
10.2%
free-lunch eligible
- 82% below the California average of 55.5%
Below the 40% Title I threshold, among the lower-need profiles in the state; federal aid targets individual qualifying students rather than schoolwide programs.
Staffing depth
16.1:1
students per teacher
- 25% below state mean
Top 14% in California - lower ratio than 86% of state schools
Between 16:1 and 20:1, squarely in the typical U.S. public-school staffing range.
Engagement
13.3%
chronically absent (missed 10%+ of school days)
In the 10-15% range, above the pre-pandemic national baseline but within the broader post-pandemic picture.
Funding equity
$18,318
per pupil, district-wide
- above California avg of $16,509
Somewhat above the U.S. public-school average, reflecting higher local or state investment per enrolled student.
Support staff
Counselors0.0 FTE
Student-support staffing from the Civil Rights Data Collection.
Discipline context
0
in-school suspensions + 0 out-of-school
Suspension rate: 0.0 per 100 students. Combined in-school and out-of-school rate: 0.0 per 100 students. Reported via the Civil Rights Data Collection.
Overview
- Common Core of Data (June 2026): enrollment, staffing, and the student-teacher ratio above.
- Civil Rights Data Collection: discipline counts and program access (AP, gifted, special education).
- F-33 School District Finance Survey: the district-wide per-pupil spending figures below.
Three separate federal collections, each on its own reporting cadence - which is why this school's numbers line up on a consistent basis against every other school and state on this site, rather than mixing figures pulled from different survey years.
Student demographics
White 78.8%
Hispanic or Latino 12.4%
Two or More 7.1%
Asian 1.8%
Largest group: White at 78.8% of enrollment.
Student-body diversity index 35.8/100
Simpson diversity index - at 35.8, Ballard Elementary is less mixed than the California school average of 46.0.
Programs
Funding & spending
District-wide per-pupil expenditure for Ballard Elementary, which includes Ballard Elementary.
$18,318
Per student
+11%
vs California
Avg $16,509
+10%
vs U.S.
Avg $16,593
Revenue mix
Local 75.8%
State 18.2%
Federal 5.9%
Source: NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey District-level finance · FY 2021-22 Per-pupil expenditure reflects the district-wide average. Individual school budgets are not reported at the federal level.
Similar elementary schools in Solvang
1 comparable elementary schools (grades K-5) serving the same city.
Similar elementary schools statewide
Matched by enrollment size and by staffing ratio across all of California, not just this city - a different peer set than the local comparisons above.
Similar enrollment (~113 students)
Similar student-teacher ratio (~16.1:1)
Next steps
Verify locally before acting on Ballard Elementary's federal record.
- Compare Ballard Elementary against another school. Compare schools
- Ballard Elementary's spending and staffing shape this school. District profile
- Confirm current enrollment and boundaries with the school. Choosing guide
Federal record (CCD 2024-25, CRDC 2021-22) - PlainSchools assigns no subjective rating; the composite quality score is a transparent, reproducible index computed from this cited federal data.
Frequently asked questions about Ballard Elementary
How many students attend Ballard Elementary?
Ballard Elementary has 113 students enrolled. It is an elementary school in Solvang, CA.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Ballard Elementary?
The student-teacher ratio at Ballard Elementary is 16.1:1, which is 25% lower than the California average of 21.5:1 and 3% higher than the national average of 15.7:1. Lower ratios generally mean more individual attention per student.
What percentage of students receive free lunch at Ballard Elementary?
10.2% of students at Ballard Elementary are eligible for free lunch, compared to the California average of 55.5%.
What is the racial and ethnic makeup of Ballard Elementary?
The largest demographic group at Ballard Elementary is White at 78.8% of enrollment, in Solvang, CA.
What is the Resource Investment Index for Ballard Elementary?
Ballard Elementary has a Resource Investment Index of 44/100 (typical reported resources relative to schools nationally) based on 3 factors: student-teacher ratio, attendance rates. Not a test-score or academic measure (national median ~41/100, see methodology).
Is Ballard Elementary a good school?
Ballard Elementary earns 44/100 on the Resource Investment Index, with class sizes smaller than 86% of California schools. This is a resource snapshot, not an academic rating; see the Resource Investment Index question above for what the number does and doesn't measure.
What other schools are in Ballard Elementary?
None reported; Ballard Elementary operates only Ballard Elementary as a public school district in NCES's records.
Related tools
Every figure on PlainSchools is rendered directly from the source NCES, CRDC and F-33 federal records, no number is typed in by an editor. Each school's figures reflect its most recent NCES/CRDC submission on file. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of June 2026.