Enrollment
20
California · 2024-25 NCES data
Elementary school (grades K-5) · Cazadero, CA
Fort Ross Elementary
Federal NCES profile for Fort Ross Elementary, including enrollment, faculty, free-lunch eligibility, demographics, and resource indicators - Resource Investment Index 30/100.
2024-25 NCES dataElementary school (grades K-5)NCES 061413001616
👥 S:T ratio 60
🌟 Gifted program 30
📋 Attendance 0
Scored 0–100 from federal NCES and CRDC indicators, resource allocation, not test scores. Full methodology →
The verdict
Fort Ross Elementary earns 30/100 on the Resource Investment Index, even as it posts class sizes smaller than 96% of California schools. It is also one of the smallest schools in California.
- 30
- Resource Index · Lower
- 10:1
- small classes for California
- 64.3%
- free-lunch eligible
- 20
- students enrolled
Fort Ross Elementary has class sizes smaller than 96% of California schools. Computed live against every California school reporting to NCES.
School address
District: Fort Ross Elementary · California
NCES ID 061413001616 Verify on NCES CCD record →
Teachers (FTE)
2.0
Federal CCD staff survey
Students per teacher
10:1
vs 21.5:1 California avg
-53% vs state
Free-lunch eligible
64.3%
vs 55.5% California avg
+16% vs state
Student-teacher ratio in context
How Fort Ross Elementary compares with California and U.S. medians
What stands out at Fort Ross Elementary
Fort Ross Elementary is a higher-need, small elementary school in Cazadero, California, enrolling 20 students.
Classes run notably small here: at 10:1, Fort Ross Elementary is leaner than roughly 96% of California schools and 53% under the state's 21.5:1 norm, more adult attention per pupil than most peers.
Its free-meal eligibility rate of 64.3% lands close to the California typical range, neither a high- nor low-need campus by this measure.
This is a small campus: fewer students than 97% of California schools, with 20 enrolled.
Its Resource Investment Index sits near the middle of the pack among 9,998 scored California schools.
Against 105 statewide peers matched on enrollment and economic need, it ranks mid-pack at #70.
Its student body is led by White (50%) and Two or More (25%) (diversity index 65/100).
Chronic absenteeism is elevated: 40.0% of students missed 10% or more of school days (2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection).
The surrounding Fort Ross Elementary spends $60,917 per pupil, 269% above the California average, a better-resourced district than most.
Among Cazadero's elementary schools, it stands alongside Montgomery Elementary (23 students): Fort Ross Elementary is smaller than that campus by headcount and runs heavier classes (10:1 vs 7.7:1).
Fort Ross Elementary operates only this one school, so Fort Ross Elementary has no district-mates to compare against locally. At 20 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 Fort Ross Elementary compares
Fort Ross 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 | 10:1 | ▼ 53% | 21.5:1 | 15.7:1 |
| Free-lunch eligible | 64.3% | ▲ 16% | 55.5% | 51.7% |
| Enrollment | 20 | top 97% | - | - |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data School-level CCD + state/national means from Public School Universe · 2024-25
10:1
Leaner classes than 89% of US schools, among the more generously staffed nationally.
20
Bigger than 3% of US schools by enrollment, a small campus.
Equity indicators (what these measure)
Economic need
64.3%
free-lunch eligible
- 16% above the California average of 55.5%
Above the 40% Title I schoolwide threshold; federal funds support the whole school, not individual students.
Staffing depth
10:1
students per teacher
- 53% below state mean
Top 4% in California - lower ratio than 96% of state schools
Well under the widely cited 15:1 individualized-attention benchmark, among the leaner class loads nationally.
Engagement
40.0%
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
$60,917
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
Counselors0.0 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 50.0%
Two or More 25.0%
Hispanic or Latino 20.0%
African American 5.0%
Largest group: White at 50.0% of enrollment.
Student-body diversity index 64.5/100
Simpson diversity index - at 64.5, Fort Ross Elementary is more mixed than the California school average of 46.0.
Programs
Funding & spending
District-wide per-pupil expenditure for Fort Ross Elementary, which includes Fort Ross Elementary.
$60,917
Per student
+269%
vs California
Avg $16,509
+267%
vs U.S.
Avg $16,593
Revenue mix
Local 65.0%
State 25.9%
Federal 9.1%
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 Cazadero
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 (~20 students)
Next steps
Verify locally before acting on Fort Ross Elementary's federal record.
- Compare Fort Ross Elementary against another school. Compare schools
- Fort Ross 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 Fort Ross Elementary
How many students attend Fort Ross Elementary?
Fort Ross Elementary has 20 students enrolled. It is an elementary school in Cazadero, CA.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Fort Ross Elementary?
The student-teacher ratio at Fort Ross Elementary is 10:1, which is 53% lower than the California average of 21.5:1 and 36% 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 Fort Ross Elementary?
64.3% of students at Fort Ross Elementary are eligible for free lunch, compared to the California average of 55.5%.
What is the racial and ethnic makeup of Fort Ross Elementary?
The largest demographic group at Fort Ross Elementary is White at 50.0% of enrollment, in Cazadero, CA. Its student body is more racially and ethnically mixed than most US schools, with a diversity index of 64.5/100.
What is the Resource Investment Index for Fort Ross Elementary?
Fort Ross Elementary has a Resource Investment Index of 30/100 (lower 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 Fort Ross Elementary a good school?
Fort Ross Elementary earns 30/100 on the Resource Investment Index, even as it posts class sizes smaller than 96% of California schools. It is also one of the smallest schools in California. 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 Fort Ross Elementary?
None reported; Fort Ross Elementary operates only Fort Ross 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.