The top reported proficiency rate is 24% in Math. The lowest is 15% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Albert F. Biella Elementary
Albert F. Biella Elementary is a public elementary school in Santa Rosa, the county seat of Sonoma County, serving kindergarten through sixth grade. Any family researching this school needs to know one thing first: publicly reported accounts confirm that Albert F. Biella closed in June 2025 as part of a district-wide consolidation driven by a severe fiscal crisis and declining enrollment. The school's former classrooms are being retrofitted to serve the district's youngest students in a restructured configuration. The test results and enrollment figures in this profile reflect the school's final year of operation, not a currently enrolling campus. Families looking for an elementary placement in this neighborhood will be directed elsewhere.
That context shapes how to read everything else here.
The most recent state assessment results, from the California CAASPP and CAST, showed proficiency rates in English language arts, math, and science that were low across all tested grades. Relative to districts in Sonoma County, the school's overall proficiency index sat in the bottom quartile of the comparison set. ELA scores were below a quarter of students at grade level across most grades, with fifth grade showing the strongest performance. Math results were similarly modest, strongest in third grade and lower in the upper elementary years. Science proficiency at the tested grade was below the ELA and math figures. Because only a single year of data was available, no trend line can be drawn, and prior-year results were not reported.
The student body was predominantly Hispanic, with white students making up a smaller share and other groups present in smaller proportions. A very large majority of students qualified for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting a high-poverty enrollment. Special-population figures for students with IEPs and English learners were not available in the data.
The district that ran Biella, Santa Rosa Elementary, has been navigating a financial and structural crisis that families anywhere in the district's boundaries will encounter. Voters approved a general obligation bond in late 2022 to repair and upgrade facilities, and that property tax levy runs for decades. A separate parcel tax effort is underway, organized by a citizens group after the district paused its own proposal. Since 2024 the district has eliminated more than fifty teaching and counseling positions, reduced mental health and wellness staff, and raised target class sizes, with elementary classes after kindergarten projected to reach roughly thirty-two students. Receiving schools that absorbed Biella and Brook Hill students saw some of the sharpest enrollment increases in years, with crowding and larger classes the result.
The district is also restructuring grade configurations across remaining campuses, converting some into TK-3 sites and repurposing others, so the landscape of where elementary grades are housed is actively shifting. A family moving into this part of Santa Rosa should contact the district directly to confirm current attendance boundaries and which campus would serve their child.
Santa Rosa itself offers a real range of neighborhood character. The downtown core around Old Courthouse Square is walkable, with restaurants, shops, a farmers market, and a rail connection via the SMART commuter line running south toward Marin County. Away from downtown, most neighborhoods are more car-dependent. Civic life includes a connected eastern park system, with Howarth Park flowing into Spring Lake Regional Park and Trione-Annadel State Park. Healthcare, government, and some technology and medical device manufacturing are the primary employment anchors. Housing in the immediate zip code sits well above the national median and modestly below the California state benchmark, with home values slipping slightly year over year and rents doing the same. The rent-to-income burden, measured against national household income figures, is substantial.
The district's fiscal condition, the school closures, the staff reductions, and the ongoing reconfiguration are the dominant facts any family should investigate further before making enrollment or housing decisions in this area.
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