Enrollment
92
California · 2024-25 NCES data
Elementary school (grades K-5) · Santa Cruz, CA
Bonny Doon Elementary
Federal NCES profile for Bonny Doon Elementary, including enrollment, faculty, free-lunch eligibility, demographics, and resource indicators - Resource Investment Index 33/100.
2024-25 NCES dataElementary school (grades K-5)NCES 060564000515
👥 S:T ratio 48
🌟 Gifted program 30
🎓 Counselors 54
📋 Attendance 0
Scored 0–100 from federal NCES and CRDC indicators, resource allocation, not test scores. Full methodology →
The verdict
Bonny Doon Elementary earns 33/100 on the Resource Investment Index, with class sizes smaller than 92% of California schools.
- #3 of 14
- elementary schools in Santa Cruz · Resource Index
- 33
- Resource Index · Typical
- 13.1:1
- small classes for California
- 13.0%
- free-lunch eligible
Bonny Doon Elementary has class sizes smaller than 92% of California schools. Computed live against every California school reporting to NCES.
By Resource Investment Index, Bonny Doon Elementary ranks #3 of 14 elementary schools in Santa Cruz, CA.
School address
District: Bonny Doon Union Elementary · California
NCES ID 060564000515 Verify on NCES CCD record →
Teachers (FTE)
7.0
Federal CCD staff survey
Students per teacher
13.1:1
vs 21.5:1 California avg
-39% vs state
Free-lunch eligible
13.0%
vs 55.5% California avg
-77% vs state
Student-teacher ratio in context
How Bonny Doon Elementary compares with California and U.S. medians
What stands out at Bonny Doon Elementary
Small campus with unusually lean teacher staffing
Bonny Doon Elementary sits near the smaller end of the California enrollment distribution while also reporting a lower student-teacher ratio than most state schools. That pairing is consistent with a compact, teacher-dense setting, though small scale can limit the number of specialized courses or support roles a campus can sustain. The program and staffing sections below show whether the lean ratio extends beyond classroom teachers into broader student services.
Need and resources require a component-level read
Bonny Doon Elementary falls within the wide middle of the California distribution on both free-meal eligibility and the Resource Investment Index. Neither measure supplies an honest headline by itself. The useful distinctions are in the components: classroom staffing, counselor availability, attendance, gifted-program access, and district spending. Those fields can pull in opposite directions even when the overall percentile looks ordinary.
Attendance is the dominant support signal
Bonny Doon Elementary's 43.5% chronic-absence rate is more consequential than a generic staffing label: at least one quarter of students missed 10% or more of school days in the 2021-22 collection. That level can affect instruction, counseling demand, and continuity even when other reported resources look ordinary. The dataset records the scale of absence but not its causes, so it should prompt a current-year question rather than a conclusion about school management.
Bonny Doon Elementary is a lower-poverty, small elementary school in Santa Cruz, California, enrolling 92 students.
Classes run notably small here: at 13.1:1, Bonny Doon Elementary is leaner than roughly 92% of California schools and 39% under the state's 21.5:1 norm, more adult attention per pupil than most peers.
Comparatively few students face economic hardship here, 13.0% free-meal eligibility runs 77% below the California average.
Enrollment of 92 puts it in the smaller third of California schools by headcount.
Its Resource Investment Index sits near the middle of the pack among 9,998 scored California schools.
Against 49 statewide peers matched on enrollment and economic need, it ranks mid-pack at #29.
Its student body is led by White (71%) and Hispanic or Latino (14%) (diversity index 47/100).
Counselor coverage is strong, about 230 students per counselor, inside the American School Counselor Association's recommended 250:1.
Chronic absenteeism is elevated: 43.5% of students missed 10% or more of school days (2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection).
The surrounding Bonny Doon Union Elementary spends $22,513 per pupil, 36% above the California average, a better-resourced district than most.
Among Santa Cruz's elementary schools, it stands alongside Brook Knoll Elementary (498 students): Bonny Doon Elementary is smaller than that campus by headcount and runs leaner classes (13.1:1 vs 24.9:1).
Bonny Doon Union Elementary operates only this one school, so Bonny Doon Elementary has no district-mates to compare against locally. At 92 students, it is also a small operation, on the smaller end of California's single-school districts.
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 Bonny Doon Elementary compares
Bonny Doon 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 | 13.1:1 | ▼ 39% | 21.5:1 | 15.7:1 |
| Free-lunch eligible | 13.0% | ▼ 77% | 55.5% | 51.7% |
| Enrollment | 92 | top 90% | - | - |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data School-level CCD + state/national means from Public School Universe · 2024-25
13.1:1
Leaner classes than 66% of US schools, among the more generously staffed nationally.
92
Bigger than 9% of US schools by enrollment, a small campus.
Equity indicators (what these measure)
Economic need
13.0%
free-lunch eligible
- 77% 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
13.1:1
students per teacher
- 39% below state mean
Top 8% in California - lower ratio than 92% of state schools
Close to the 15:1 benchmark most often cited for individualized attention.
Engagement
43.5%
chronically absent (missed 10%+ of school days)
At or above 20%, the commonly used threshold for "high" chronic absenteeism, signaling significant barriers to regular attendance.
Funding equity
$22,513
per pupil, district-wide
- above California avg of $16,509
Well above the U.S. public-school average, reflecting substantially higher local or state investment per enrolled student.
Support staff
Counselors0.4 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.
Student demographics
White 70.7%
Hispanic or Latino 14.1%
Two or More 10.9%
African American 3.3%
Asian 1.1%
Largest group: White at 70.7% of enrollment.
Student-body diversity index 46.7/100
Simpson diversity index - at 46.7, Bonny Doon Elementary is about as mixed as the California school average of 46.0.
Programs
Funding & spending
District-wide per-pupil expenditure for Bonny Doon Union Elementary, which includes Bonny Doon Elementary.
$22,513
Per student
+36%
vs California
Avg $16,509
+36%
vs U.S.
Avg $16,593
Revenue mix
Local 71.3%
State 17.4%
Federal 11.3%
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 Santa Cruz
6 comparable elementary schools (grades K-5) serving the same city.
Brook Knoll Elementary
Standard public school
498 students 24.9:1 students per teacher
De Laveaga Elementary
Standard public school
481 students 22.9:1 students per teacher
Westlake Elementary
Standard public school
453 students 21.6:1 students per teacher
Bay View Elementary
Standard public school
394 students 21.9:1 students per teacher
Live Oak Elementary
Standard public school
362 students 22.6:1 students per teacher
Del Mar Elementary
Standard public school
322 students 21.5:1 students per teacher
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 (~92 students)
Next steps
Verify locally before acting on Bonny Doon Elementary's federal record.
- Compare Bonny Doon Elementary against another school. Compare schools
- Bonny Doon Union 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 Bonny Doon Elementary
How many students attend Bonny Doon Elementary?
Bonny Doon Elementary has 92 students enrolled. It is an elementary school in Santa Cruz, CA.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Bonny Doon Elementary?
The student-teacher ratio at Bonny Doon Elementary is 13.1:1, which is 39% lower than the California average of 21.5:1 and 17% lower 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 Bonny Doon Elementary?
13.0% of students at Bonny Doon Elementary are eligible for free lunch, compared to the California average of 55.5%.
What is the racial and ethnic makeup of Bonny Doon Elementary?
The largest demographic group at Bonny Doon Elementary is White at 70.7% of enrollment, in Santa Cruz, CA.
What is the Resource Investment Index for Bonny Doon Elementary?
Bonny Doon Elementary has a Resource Investment Index of 33/100 (typical reported resources relative to schools nationally) based on 4 factors: student-teacher ratio, gifted-program reporting, counselor availability, chronic absenteeism. Not a test-score or academic measure (national median ~41/100, see methodology).
How does Bonny Doon Elementary rank among elementary schools in Santa Cruz?
By Resource Investment Index, Bonny Doon Elementary ranks #3 of 14 elementary schools in Santa Cruz, CA. This compares federal resource and staffing data among local peers; it is not a test-score or academic ranking. See all elementary schools in Santa Cruz on the city page.
What other schools are in Bonny Doon Union Elementary?
None reported; Bonny Doon Union Elementary operates only Bonny Doon 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 July 2026.