Brook Hill Elementary, Santa Rosa CA

Original Research by School Decision on Brook Hill Elementary

Brook Hill Elementary served kindergarten through sixth grade in Santa Rosa before it closed at the end of the previous school year. The school now exists only in records; no students are enrolled there. What follows is an account of the school's academic standing at the time of closure, and context around why it closed.

At the time testing was conducted, the school's academic results in math and English language arts were well below state proficiency benchmarks across all tested grades. In math, proficiency ranged from single digits in grades four and six up to roughly a third of students in grade three. English language arts results were similarly low, ranging from around one in seven students in grades four and five to roughly one in five in grades three and six. Science proficiency in grade five, where it was assessed, was also low. Across all tested grades and subjects combined, the school sat in the bottom quartile among Sonoma County's school districts, indicating performance that was notably weak relative to peers in the region.

The student body was economically disadvantaged; a substantial share of students qualified for free or reduced-price lunch. The enrollment was predominantly Hispanic, with a much smaller presence of white students and very few students from other racial or ethnic backgrounds. No data on English learner status or special education enrollment was available in the school's public reporting.

Brook Hill's closure was part of a severe fiscal crisis and declining enrollment in the Santa Rosa City Elementary School District. The district shuttered multiple campuses beginning in 2025, with Albert Biella and Brook Hill both closing in June of that year, and Steele Lane Elementary set to close at the end of the following school year. The consolidation shifted students to remaining campuses, where receiving schools became markedly more crowded; class sizes rose substantially and staff was cut, including more than fifty teaching and counseling positions district-wide since 2024. Elementary classes after kindergarten are now projected to reach about thirty-two students per class on average. The district has also been grappling with how to stabilize its finances, weighing proposals for new parcel taxes on property owners.

The closure reflected structural decisions made at the district level about how to align school facilities with shifting enrollment and the district's financial reality. For families who were attending or considering the school, the decision meant reassignment to one of the district's other elementary campuses. The school is no longer in operation.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 336%

School 36% · District 33% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

Grade 410%

School 10% · District 26% · ▼ 17 pts below district

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

Grade 516%

School 16% · District 21% · ▼ 4 pts below district

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

Grade 69%

School 9% · District 28% · ▼ 19 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 322%

School 22% · District 30% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 20 pts below county median

Grade 414%

School 14% · District 29% · ▼ 15 pts below district

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

Grade 513%

School 13% · District 33% · ▼ 20 pts below district

▼ 32 pts below state median · ▼ 34 pts below county median

Grade 621%

School 21% · District 40% · ▼ 19 pts below district

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 29 pts below county median

Science

Grade 516%

School 16% · District 24% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 16 pts below county median

This schoolSanta Rosa Elementary, 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.