The Rio School District was founded in 1885 with the opening of a one-room schoolhouse on a ranch in what is now El Rio. The first class had at most 13 students.[2]
In 2018, the district purchased a new headquarters building on Solar Drive in northeast Oxnard. The office space is shared with the Oxnard Union High School District, who relocated from their previous facilities on K Street in the flight path of Oxnard Airport.[3]