DESOTO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

DESOTO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is a tiny elementary campus in TAMPA, Florida, run under HILLSBOROUGH. The school works with 180 students in grades pre-K through 5. Enrollment runs roughly 70% leaner than the state mean of about 604.

Across the 300 schools in HILLSBOROUGH (221,318 students total), DESOTO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

On demographics, DESOTO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL shows that 74% of the student body identifies as Hispanic. Other groups include 16% Black, 9% White. The wider county runs roughly 30% Hispanic, putting the school's mix visibly more Hispanic than the area baseline.

Looking at school resources, The school reports having 17 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 10.8:1. The state averages around 17.5:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. Around 73% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. Set against Hillsborough County (around 43%), the school's rate is noticeably above typical.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, DESOTO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 44.4%, the actual is 55.7%, a residual of +11.2 points.

In the area at large, the surrounding county (Hillsborough County) shows that median household income runs about $79,540, roughly 38% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 9% of residents live below the federal poverty line. In all, Hillsborough County runs 320 public schools (combined enrollment of about 223,193 students), of which DESOTO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is one.

Nearest neighbor: SHORE ELEMENTARY MAGNET SCHOOL, around 0.8 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around DESOTO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. On composite proficiency, DESOTO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL comes 2nd of 6 in the immediate cluster, higher than the nearby-schools average of 49.2%.

The school occupies a downtown site.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count edged down 28%: 251 students in 2018 compared to 180 in 2025. The Hispanic share of enrollment rose from 65% to 74% over that span.

On the community side, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.