Best Public Schools in Fontana, CA

Fontana, California is served by 58 public schools across eight districts, primarily Fontana Unified, educating students from kindergarten through 12th grade in a diverse, high-need urban community.

Parents will find significant performance differences between districts and individual schools. The Etiwanda Elementary district schools, like Heritage Intermediate and Cecilia Lucero Solorio Elementary, consistently rank in the 80th percentile or higher statewide, with strong test scores and lower chronic absenteeism. Within Fontana Unified, Summit High stands out as a top-performing high school with a 97% graduation rate, while elementary schools like Oak Park Elementary and Cypress Elementary show wide variation in results despite similar student demographics.

Key challenges across the area include lower math proficiency compared to English and struggling alternative schools like Citrus High (Continuation) and Options for Youth-Acton, which have very low graduation rates. Middle schools show a dramatic gap, with Fontana Middle ranking much lower than Heritage Intermediate. Notably, higher per-student spending does not always correlate with better outcomes, suggesting factors like specific programs and school leadership play a critical role in student success.