West Contra Costa Unified School District (WCCUSD) runs the public schools for El Sobrante, whether the home is in unincorporated county or inside Richmond city limits. Which school a home is assigned to depends on the exact address, so look it up in the district’s School Locator and confirm with the district before you write an offer.
One big change this year: the district merged El Sobrante’s middle school, Betty Reid Soskin Middle School, into Pinole Middle School. If you’re counting on a middle school, start there.
How do I look up the schools for one address?
Use the district’s own tool, then confirm.
- Open the WCCUSD School Locator (schoolsitelocator.com/apps/westcontracosta), which the district links from its FAQ (WCCUSD, checked September 25, 2026).
- Type the full street address, not just “El Sobrante.” Homes a block apart can land in different attendance areas.
- Confirm with the district’s enrollment office before you rely on it. Boundaries and programs can change, and they’re changing now.
Don’t go by a listing description or an old post, ours included. The listing agent’s school line is a starting point, not an answer.
What happened to Betty Reid Soskin Middle School?
It merged into Pinole Middle School. The district’s Fiscal Solvency Plan page says Betty Reid Soskin Middle School will be merged with Pinole Middle School, and that its students move to the Pinole Middle campus (WCCUSD, Fiscal Solvency Plan 2026-28 page, checked September 25, 2026). The board approved the plan on February 11, 2026 (Richmondside, February 12, 2026; Grandview Independent, February 12, 2026).
What that means on the ground:
- Former Soskin students now attend on the Pinole Middle campus in Pinole, not on Allview Avenue. The district’s school list now shows the school as “Betty Reid Soskin at Pinole Middle School” (WCCUSD website, Our Schools list, checked September 25, 2026).
- The Allview Avenue campus in El Sobrante now hosts West County Mandarin School, a K to 8 WCCUSD school the plan moves there (same WCCUSD page).
- Seventh and eighth graders at some K to 8 schools, including Verde K-8, Montalvin K-8, Peres K-8, Stewart K-8 and Mira Vista K8, move back to their middle school of residence (same WCCUSD page).
Ask the district which middle school your address feeds into for this school year.
Which public schools have El Sobrante addresses?
These WCCUSD schools carried El Sobrante addresses in the California School Dashboard’s 2025 listings (California School Dashboard, 2025, read September 25, 2026). Names below are as WCCUSD lists them (wccusd.net, Our Schools list, checked September 25, 2026):
- Murphy Elementary School, 4350 Valley View Road, grades K to 6, 460 students.
- Olinda Elementary School, 5855 Olinda Road, grades K to 6, 318 students.
- Betty Reid Soskin Middle School, 1121 Allview Avenue, grades 6 to 8, 372 students in its last year before the merger. WCCUSD now lists it as Betty Reid Soskin at Pinole Middle School, and West County Mandarin School uses the Allview Avenue campus.
A few more WCCUSD schools sit just over the line with Richmond addresses along the valley, including Sheldon Elementary School on May Road, Valley View Elementary School on Maywood Drive and De Anza High School at 5000 Valley View Road (same Dashboard source). A school’s mailing address doesn’t decide who attends. The Locator does.
What do the state’s 2025 results show?
Here’s what the California School Dashboard reported for 2025. English and math are shown as points above or below the state standard, with the change from the year before. Colors are the Dashboard’s own five-step scale, from red (lowest) to blue (highest).
| School | English | Math |
|---|---|---|
| Murphy Elementary School | 52.5 below (Yellow, up 20.1) | 45.5 below (Yellow, up 16.9) |
| Olinda Elementary School | 4.6 below (Green, up 7.7) | 11.2 below (Yellow, down 5.2) |
| Betty Reid Soskin Middle School (2025, before the merger) | 92.2 below (Red, down 10.3) | 134.0 below (Red, up 0.7) |
| De Anza High School | 42.1 below (Yellow, up 34.4) | 147.6 below (Orange, up 11.7) |
| WCCUSD district | 52.4 below (Yellow, up 3.5) | 77.9 below (Yellow, up 7.9) |
De Anza also reported an 85.5% graduation rate (Yellow) and 49.3% of graduates prepared for college or career (Orange). Source for the whole table: California School Dashboard, 2025, read September 25, 2026.
Read these as one snapshot. Small schools can swing a lot year to year, and a test score doesn’t tell you about a program, a teacher or a fit. Visit, ask questions and read each school’s full Dashboard report.
Where can I read more than test scores?
Three free, official places:
- caschooldashboard.org: search a school by name for its full report, including attendance, suspension and graduation indicators.
- The school’s School Accountability Report Card (SARC): California schools publish one each year with class sizes, facilities and staffing.
- The district: wccusd.net has enrollment rules, transfer options and board updates on the 2026 to 2028 plan.
Do schools change what a home is worth?
Sometimes, and it’s hard to measure. We don’t have a sourced figure for how much an El Sobrante school assignment moves a home’s price, so we won’t give one. What we can do is pull recent sales on both sides of an attendance line so you can compare similar homes yourself.
Questions people also ask
What middle school do El Sobrante students go to now?
It depends on the address. WCCUSD merged Betty Reid Soskin Middle School, on Allview Avenue in El Sobrante, into Pinole Middle School, with students moving to the Pinole Middle campus, per the district’s Fiscal Solvency Plan page checked September 25, 2026. Check the district’s School Locator for your address and confirm the assignment with the district.
Which school district is El Sobrante in?
West Contra Costa Unified School District, based at 1108 Bissell Avenue in Richmond. It serves both unincorporated El Sobrante and the parts of the valley inside Richmond city limits, per the county’s El Sobrante page and the district, checked September 25, 2026. Assignments go by exact street address, so verify any home with the district’s School Locator.
What is on the old Betty Reid Soskin campus now?
WCCUSD’s 2026 to 2028 plan relocates West County Mandarin, a K to 8 district school, to the Betty Reid Soskin campus at 1121 Allview Avenue, per the district’s Fiscal Solvency Plan page, checked September 25, 2026. Ask the district how enrollment for that program works, since it may not follow neighborhood boundaries the same way.
How did Murphy and Olinda elementary schools do on the 2025 Dashboard?
On the 2025 California School Dashboard, Olinda Elementary School was 4.6 points below standard in English (Green) and 11.2 below in math (Yellow). Murphy Elementary School was 52.5 below in English and 45.5 below in math, both Yellow, and up about 20 and 17 points from the year before. Check each school’s full Dashboard report.
Your next step
Have a home in mind? Send us the address. We’ll run it through the district’s School Locator with you, show you the Dashboard reports for those schools, and pull recent sales nearby. Talk to an El Sobrante agent on our team or call (510) 949-5525.
More on El Sobrante: Is El Sobrante a good place to live? · Search El Sobrante homes · What’s my home worth?
By Bill Davis, DRE #01880656, The Davis Team at eXp Realty, El Sobrante, CA. Updated September 25, 2026.
Sources
- West Contra Costa Unified School District, School Locator: schoolsitelocator.com/apps/westcontracosta (checked September 25, 2026)
- West Contra Costa Unified School District, Fiscal Solvency Plan 2026-28: wccusd.net/about-us/fiscal-solvency-plan-2026-28 (checked September 25, 2026)
- Richmondside, “Teachers shed tears over WCCUSD board vote to merge Betty Reid and Pinole schools,” February 12, 2026
- Grandview Independent, “Board approves plan to merge Betty Reid Soskin, Pinole middle schools,” February 12, 2026
- West Contra Costa Unified School District, Our Schools list: wccusd.net (checked September 25, 2026)
- California School Dashboard, 2025 reports for WCCUSD, Murphy Elementary, Olinda Elementary, Betty Reid Soskin Middle, Sheldon Elementary, Valley View Elementary and De Anza High: caschooldashboard.org (read September 25, 2026)
- Contra Costa County, El Sobrante (District 1 unincorporated communities): contracosta.ca.gov/4368 (checked September 25, 2026)