Pacheco Elementary, San Luis Obispo CA

Original Research by School Decision on Pacheco Elementary

Pacheco Elementary serves kindergarten through sixth grade in San Luis Obispo, a college town with a compact historic downtown anchored by a Spanish mission and California Polytechnic State University. The school enrolls a diverse student body, with a substantial share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch and the enrollment roughly evenly split between Hispanic and white students, alongside smaller populations of other backgrounds. The student body includes a number of English learners, though the exact count was not available.

In state testing on English language arts, Pacheco's results are mixed by grade. Third grade shows proficiency in the range of about three in five students, while fourth grade dips to just above half. Fifth and sixth grades recover somewhat, both in the range of roughly five in ten to six in ten students meeting standards. In mathematics, performance is more uneven. Third grade performs comparably to ELA, but fourth grade drops sharply below ELA, and fifth grade falls further still, with only about one in three students proficient. Sixth grade rebounds slightly, to about halfway. Science testing in fifth grade shows proficiency near one in three. Across both ELA and math, Pacheco's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile among the county's school districts, a strength worth noting given the school's student composition.

Pacheco sits in a district navigating significant budget pressures. San Luis Coastal Unified has announced substantial cuts starting in the 2026-27 school year, driven by the loss of Diablo Canyon-related tax revenue and expiration of COVID-era funding. These reductions will affect classroom teachers, school counselors, librarian hours, and English-learner programming, among other supports. Class sizes are expected to grow. A family relocating to the area should factor in these service-level changes as part of the school environment. On a more permanent note, voters approved Measure C-22, a school bond in 2022 that adds a lasting property-tax charge but funds facility upgrades and security improvements across the district's schools.

San Luis Obispo itself is in rapid growth, with five major master-planned residential developments reshaping the city's southern and outer edges. The area has more jobs than housing, which draws commuters; family housing is becoming tighter and costlier, with local home values well above state and national medians and rents rising. The downtown core is highly walkable and anchored by civic life, parks, transit, and a farmers' market, while residential neighborhoods are more car-dependent. Cal Poly sits on the city's edge, separated from downtown by a short drive. The city offers a range of parks, trails, and recreational access, and the regional transit authority serves areas beyond the city limits. For families considering Pacheco, the school's academic standing is a real asset, but the district's near-term budget reductions and the area's growth-driven housing pressures are material factors worth understanding fully with the district and local housing market.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 361%

School 61% · District 61%

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

Grade 447%

School 47% · District 64% · ▼ 17 pts below district

▲ 10 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 533%

School 33% · District 52% · ▼ 19 pts below district

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 657%

School 57% · District 61% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 27 pts above state median · ▲ 15 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 362%

School 62% · District 61% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Grade 454%

School 54% · District 68% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 557%

School 57% · District 67% · ▼ 10 pts below district

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

Grade 655%

School 55% · District 71% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▲ 12 pts above state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Science

Grade 535%

School 35% · District 50% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▲ 7 pts above state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

This schoolSan Luis Coastal 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.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income41%Higher-income86%46 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income21%Higher-income82%60 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income30%Higher-income85%56 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income33%Higher-income78%45 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income38%Higher-income86%49 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income22%Higher-income71%49 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income11%Higher-income56%45 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income39%Higher-income75%36 pp gap