George C. Payne Elementary, San Jose CA

Original Research by School Decision on George C. Payne Elementary

George C. Payne Elementary serves kindergarten through fifth grade in San Jose's East Side residential area, on the boundary between suburban tree-lined neighborhoods and the rolling terrain of Evergreen. The school enrollment runs to several hundred students, with roughly balanced representation across the grade spans. About a quarter of families qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the student body is racially and ethnically mixed, with Hispanic and Asian students each representing a substantial share, along with white, multiracial, and smaller populations of other groups.

On state testing, the school's overall proficiency hovers near the midpoint among Santa Clara County districts. Third graders show the strongest results, particularly in English language arts. Performance dips in the upper elementary grades: fourth grade math and English are both below third grade, and fifth grade math sits slightly above fourth. Fifth grade science proficiency is just under half. Across grades three through five, math trails behind reading by several percentage points. The school has only one year of comparable data on file, so no trend can yet be drawn.

Payne sits within Moreland School District, a small, K-8 district covering several neighborhoods in San Jose's East Side. The district locked in stable local funding through an eight-year parcel tax approved by voters in November 2024, which renews the expiring prior measure at the same per-parcel level with no increase. Those funds flow directly to class sizes, teacher recruitment and retention, science and reading instruction, technology, and library operations. The district is also mid-way through a major facilities bond approved in 2020, with ongoing modernization of all school sites. In May 2025 the board held a study session on the next phase, presenting options for playground and field upgrades and updated learning environments. The combination of stable local property tax and active capital work means families here are making a choice about both the school and its near-term trajectory.

The broader San Jose context is a tech-dominated metro area with neighborhoods ranging from walkable downtown districts to sprawling car-dependent residential zones. Payne's zip code in East San Jose sits well away from downtown; the area is suburban in character, with single-family homes and local commercial strips. Housing values in the zip code are substantial, and rental costs run high relative to income. Median household income is above national levels, and unemployment is low, but housing affordability remains a dominant constraint. The economy is anchored by Cisco, Apple, Google, and Intel, alongside smaller professional services and light manufacturing employers.

A parent or resident weighing this school should understand it as a solidly operational elementary serving a mixed, economically stable neighborhood within a small, locally funded district that has made recent commitments to facility and program investment. The academic results are moderate; reading sits near the county midpoint while math sits a bit below. The school's younger grades perform better than older ones, which may reflect normal grade-level variation or suggest students encounter steeper challenges in upper elementary. A parent may want to look into what the school's math instruction looks like and whether there are particular supports or acceleration paths available as students move from third to fourth grade. The school does not advertise specialized programs, magnet themes, or alternative pedagogies; it functions as a neighborhood elementary. The fit depends on whether your expectations align with a regular public school in a suburban setting, and on whether the district's funding and facility direction matches your priorities.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 361%

School 61% · District 65% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Grade 442%

School 42% · District 59% · ▼ 17 pts below district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 545%

School 45% · District 53% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 359%

School 59% · District 63% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 458%

School 58% · District 62% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 562%

School 62% · District 61% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Science

Grade 549%

School 49% · District 51% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▲ 21 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

This schoolMoreland, 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.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income26%Higher-income75%49 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income37%Higher-income67%30 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income39%Higher-income71%32 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income17%Higher-income83%67 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income32%Higher-income47%15 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income6%Higher-income59%53 pp gap