Best Public Schools in Julian, CA

Julian, California, has five schools serving elementary, middle, high-school and alternative-school students, with 1,307 students enrolled; the schools range from 110 students at Julian Junior High to 693 at Brookfield Engineering Science Technology Academy. The two alternative schools, Julian Charter and Brookfield, serve K–12 students. The clearest area-wide finding is that math results vary sharply by school: in 2025–2026, proficiency ranged from 25% at Brookfield to 51% at Julian Elementary, a 26-point spread, even though the four schools with results averaged 1 point above California.

Julian Elementary stands out in math, scoring 51% compared with 38% statewide; Julian High also exceeded the state in math, at 47%. High had the strongest all-grades ELA result among the four schools, 47%, though that was below the state’s 49%. Brookfield was lowest in ELA and math, at 36% and 25%, respectively, and all four schools were below the state in all-grades ELA and science. In science, Brookfield scored 25.4% and Julian Junior High 25.0%. High’s graduation rate was a strong 95% versus 88% statewide, and its dropout rate was 3% versus 8%; however, chronic absenteeism was also high at 37%, compared with 18% statewide. In the earlier 2024–2025 results, Julian Charter led the available schools, exceeding the state by 4 points in ELA, 9 in math and 16 in science.

Recent results show improvement overall in math among the four schools with scores in both years: their average moved from 26% in 2024–2025 to 40% in 2025–2026, while the group’s gap to the state improved by 13 points. ELA also moved closer to the state, but science fell farther behind; changes differed by school, including a 15-point math gain at Julian Junior High and a 14-point science decline at Julian Elementary. SchoolDigger percentiles also rose from 46 to 61 at Julian High and from 30 to 48 at Julian Junior High between 2024–2025 and 2025–2026. The five schools’ 2024–2025 student–teacher ratios averaged 20.0, ranging from 14.0 at Julian Charter to 28.7 at Brookfield. All reported free/reduced lunch eligible figures for 2024–2025: values ranged from 42% at Julian Charter to 65% at Julian Junior High. Latest test years and grade spans differ, so these results are not all direct, like-for-like comparisons.