MAUDE SAUNDERS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

MAUDE SAUNDERS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is a mid-sized elementary school in DEFUNIAK SPRINGS, Florida, operated by WALTON. The school enrolls 554 students in grades K through 5.

WALTON comprises 22 schools with combined enrollment of 12,069 students; MAUDE SAUNDERS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is among them.

In terms of who attends, MAUDE SAUNDERS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL shows that White students make up the majority at 55%. Beyond that, the school reports 21% Hispanic, 13% Black, 9% multiracial. By comparison, Walton County as a whole is about 84% White, so the school skews noticeably less White than its surroundings.

In terms of school funding signals, On paper, MAUDE SAUNDERS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL has 46 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 12.2:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 17.5:1, putting MAUDE SAUNDERS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL tighter than the state norm the norm. About 83% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. By comparison, Walton County runs at roughly 47%, so the school's eligibility rate is meaningfully above the surrounding baseline.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), MAUDE SAUNDERS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 39.7%, the actual is 50.2%, a residual of +10.5 points.

In the area at large, ACS estimates for Walton County put the typical household earns roughly $81,986 per year, roughly 35% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 9%. MAUDE SAUNDERS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is one of 26 public schools in Walton County (combined enrollment of about 12,069 students).

The closest other public school is WALTON INITIATIVE FOR SUCCESS IN EDUCATION (WISE), roughly 0.5 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, MAUDE SAUNDERS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL comes 4th of 4 in the immediate cluster, below the nearby-schools average of 62.8%.

The campus sits in a small-town setting.

Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count shrank 4%: 580 students in 2018 compared to 554 in 2025. White enrollment moved from 65% to 55% across the same window. Class-load math has fell: from 13.8:1 in 2018 to 12.2:1 in 2025.

Within the allk12 community for this school, the feed for MAUDE SAUNDERS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL typically covers sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.