Buckeye Union Mandarin Immersion Charter in El Dorado Hills is the best public elementary school in California, according to U.S. News & World Report's 2027 rankings.
The Mandarin immersion charter school, located on Silva Valley Parkway, claimed the No. 1 spot on the state list released Tuesday, Oct. 20. The school had not appeared in last year's rankings, SFGate reported.
It was a first.
The ranking displaced Murdock-Portal Elementary in San Jose, which held the No. 1 position last year and dropped to No. 3. Cold Spring Elementary in Santa Barbara took the No. 2 spot, jumping 12 places from the prior year.
U.S. News researchers based the 2027 rankings on publicly available data from state education agencies collected by RTI International, alongside data from the U.S. Department of Education. The methodology was new this cycle. In prior years, state-level reports were not part of the formula, according to Patch.
"By incorporating direct state data across all proficiency levels, the 2027 rankings offer a richer, more complete picture of how elementary and middle schools are driving student growth," Eric Brooks, U.S. News director of education data analysis, said in a news release.
The rankings assess student performance in reading and mathematics across all proficiency levels. U.S. News does not rank elementary schools nationally. Schools are ranked at the state and district levels, with the national report covering about 46,000 public elementary schools. Charter schools are placed in a stand-alone category.
Buckeye Union Mandarin Immersion Charter, known as BUMI, is a charter school within the Buckeye Union School District. The school enrolled 180 students during the 2024-25 school year, according to state data compiled by The School Advocate. Its average class size was about 21 students during the 2023-24 school year.
Six Bay Area schools landed in the top 10, all in the South Bay or on the Peninsula. Rounding out the top five after BUMI and Cold Spring were Murdock-Portal Elementary in San Jose, William Faria Elementary in Cupertino and North Star Academy in Redwood City.
No official statement from the school or the Buckeye Union School District about the ranking had been published as of Oct. 23. The district's next board meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 4.
