The History Of Our Schools

Education was important to the City of Lake Elsinore founders, all college graduates themselves. On July 1, 1884, a petition was granted by the San Diego supervisors for the Elsinore School District. Elsinore Elementary, originally called Elsinore Grammar, was the first school opened, in 1884 fours years before the City of Lake Elsinore was incorporated. Its curriculum served students in the first through eighth grades. When the time arrived to begin a high school in the 1890s, a petition was sent by 100 leading citizens to Sacramento requesting the establishment of just such an institution. California legislature decreed that a high school union could consist of Elsinore, Lucerne, Lake, and Grand schools’ student bodies.

In 1988, a unification vote was approved to combine the Elsinore Elementary District (kindergarten to eighth grade) and the Elsinore Union High School District into one with a single governance body.

In 1991, the new Temescal Canyon High School opened to serve students from the valley, including those from the recently formed city of Canyon Lake. The newly opened state-of-the-art Lakeside High on the Northwest side of the lake began serving students in September 2005 and will have its first graduating class in the 2008 centennial year. At the start of the 21st century, each comprehensive high school was graduating more than 500 yearly.

Today the Lake Elsinore Unified School District has one continuation and three comprehensive high schools; Lakeside, Elsinore and Temescal Canyon. Elsinore and Temescal Canyon were both named Distinguished High Schools for 2006-2007 and are the only two in the state to be in the same district. Ortega Continuation (named a Model Continuation High School in 2007-2008) is an alternative school, the first ever constructed in the state to serve students who cannot function in regular classroom settings. Additionally, the district includes 5 middle schools and 15 elementary schools. Lusieno Elementary School was named a Distinguished Elementary School in 2005-2006, and just recently been announced, Tuscany Hills Elementary School was nominated as a Distinguished Elementary School in 2007-2008.

In 2008, these educational institutions, along with Tri-Valley Community Day, Gordon Kiefer Independent, and home to schooling programs, served close to 21,846 students aged 5 to 18. The school district employs more than 3,000 adults, who are involved in operations ranging from teaching to building and maintenance. The schools operating budget is in excess of $165 million.