Los Molinos Elementary, Los Molinos CA

Original Research by School Decision on Los Molinos Elementary

Los Molinos Elementary sits on Highway 99E in an unincorporated rural community in Tehama County, serving students from kindergarten through eighth grade. The school is part of Los Molinos Unified, a small district whose schools share the same highway corridor that carries the town's commerce and civic life. The setting is agricultural and quiet, surrounded by walnut orchards along the Sacramento River, roughly a half-hour north of Chico. Nearly all residents commute by car, and the community itself offers limited amenities, with a small branch library open only two days a week and a handful of businesses clustered along the highway.

The student body reflects the community. A large majority of enrolled students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, pointing to a population with significant economic need. Hispanic students make up the largest share of the school's enrollment, with white students forming the next largest group. Data on English learner rates and students served by individualized education programs were not available in what was provided.

On the most recent California assessments, proficiency rates across grades and subjects are low, and a parent should go into this with clear eyes about what the numbers show. In English language arts, results range widely by grade, with some middle grades reaching roughly a third of students proficient and others falling considerably lower. Math results are similarly uneven and, in several grades, quite low. The fifth-grade science result is very low, and the eighth-grade science result is effectively zero. Taken together, the school sits below the midpoint among districts in Tehama County on an overall proficiency index. The data covers only one year, so no trend line is available to show whether scores are improving or holding steady. A parent who wants to understand what the school is doing to address these results would be well served by asking directly.

What these numbers do not capture on their own is the school's context. The community has lower-middle incomes relative to California, a high poverty rate, and limited local economic opportunity. The district, publicly reported to be set in a rural corridor about 25 miles north of Chico, has historically depended on agriculture, local services, and education as its primary economic pillars.

On the facilities front, Los Molinos Unified placed a bond measure on the November 2024 ballot seeking authorization for a major facilities investment. The publicly reported purpose included upgrading classrooms for career preparedness, replacing aging roofs, plumbing, and electrical systems, and improving campus safety and student wellness. The measure called for citizen oversight and annual audits. Whether the measure passed was not confirmed in the data available here. Families considering purchasing property in the district should be aware that this type of bond, if approved, is repaid through property taxes assessed on parcels within district boundaries.

Housing in the immediate area is priced well below the California median, making it one of the more accessible entry points for homeownership in the state, though still above the national midpoint. The housing stock leans toward single-family homes and manufactured housing rather than new subdivisions. Population estimates suggest the community has been declining modestly in recent years rather than growing, and there is little evidence of new residential development. The local economy for families here is largely defined by commuting to Red Bluff or Chico for work.

Program details for the school were not available in the data provided, so it is not possible to characterize enrichment offerings, extracurriculars, or specialized supports beyond what the test results and demographic data show. Graduation rate data does not apply here because the school serves only through eighth grade.

For a family weighing this school, the honest picture is a small rural K-8 in a tight-knit, economically stretched community, with academic proficiency rates that are genuinely low and no trend data yet to show direction. The housing affordability relative to the rest of California is real. The question of how the school is working to move those proficiency numbers, and what support exists for students who are behind, is one worth pursuing in a conversation with the school directly.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 320%

School 20% · District 28% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

Grade 435%

School 35% · District 34% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 517%

School 17% · District 29% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 624%

School 24% · District 32% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 729%

School 29% · District 36% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 89%

School 9% · District 31% · ▼ 22 pts below district

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 310%

School 10% · District 7% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 31 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Grade 435%

School 35% · District 35%

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 535%

School 35% · District 38% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 630%

School 30% · District 33% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 742%

School 42% · District 46% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 813%

School 13% · District 30% · ▼ 17 pts below district

▼ 32 pts below state median · ▼ 22 pts below county median

Science

Grade 54%

School 4% · District 17% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▼ 25 pts below state median · ▼ 28 pts below county median

Grade 80%

School 0% · District 18% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▼ 26 pts below state median · ▼ 19 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 878%

School 78% · District 63% · ▲ 15 pts above district

▲ 29 pts above state median · ▲ 22 pts above county median

This schoolLos Molinos Unified, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.