LAKE FOREST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

LAKE FOREST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is one of the modestly sized K-5 schools in GAINESVILLE, Florida, overseen by ALACHUA, with 268 students on its rolls from grades K through 5. Compared to the state average of about 604 students per school, that is 56% leaner than typical.

ALACHUA runs 60 schools in total, collectively educating 28,255 students. LAKE FOREST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is one of those campuses.

Looking at the student body, LAKE FOREST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL shows that Black students make up the majority at 78%; the rest reads as 9% Hispanic, 8% White, 4% multiracial. By comparison, Alachua County as a whole is about 19% Black, so the school skews considerably more Black than its surroundings.

Looking at school resources, Staff filings list 19 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 14.1:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 17.5:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. Around 85% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. Set against Alachua County (around 48%), the school's rate is north of typical.

With demographic context factored in, LAKE FOREST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 38.7%; this one delivers 34.7%.

In the surrounding community, the surrounding county (Alachua County) shows that median household income runs about $61,949, 49% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 11%. In all, Alachua County runs 68 public schools (combined enrollment of about 29,618 students), of which LAKE FOREST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is one.

The closest other public school is EASTSIDE HIGH SCHOOL, roughly 0.5 miles away. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around LAKE FOREST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. Among the 5 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), LAKE FOREST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ranks 5th on composite proficiency, below the local average of 49.0%.

Geographically, the school is in an outer-ring area.

Looking at the recent track record. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at LAKE FOREST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL has ticked down 32%, going from 392 students in 2018 to 268 in 2025. Over the same period, the Hispanic share grew from 3% to 9%.

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