BLACKBURN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

BLACKBURN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, a small primary school in PALMETTO, Florida, overseen by MANATEE, teaches 452 students, covering grades pre-K through 5. Enrollment runs roughly 25% smaller than the state mean of about 604.

MANATEE comprises 80 schools with combined enrollment of 54,215 students; BLACKBURN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is among them.

Demographically, BLACKBURN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL lists that the largest single group is Hispanic at 47%, but no single group is in the majority. The remainder reads as 27% Black, 20% White, 5% multiracial. That is considerably more Hispanic than the county at large, where the share is closer to 18%.

Looking at school resources, On paper, BLACKBURN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL has 34 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 13.4:1. The state averages around 17.5:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. Roughly 80% of students at BLACKBURN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. By comparison, Manatee County runs at roughly 51%, so the school's eligibility rate is somewhat above the surrounding baseline.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, BLACKBURN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 41.3%, the actual is 40.8%, a residual of -0.5 points.

Across the wider county, community-level numbers for Manatee County indicate the typical household earns roughly $78,457 per year, 35% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 6%. Across Manatee County's 86 public schools (combined enrollment of about 54,208 students), BLACKBURN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is JAMES TILLMAN ELEMENTARY MAGNET SCHOOL, roughly 1.7 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, BLACKBURN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL comes 4th of 6 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 42.9%.

The campus sits in a commuter-belt setting.

Trend over the last 7 years. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at BLACKBURN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL has ticked down 10%, going from 502 students in 2018 to 452 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share shrank from 30% to 20%.

Inside the community feed, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.