SOUTH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

SOUTH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is an elementary-level community of close-knit scale in OKEECHOBEE, Florida, operated by OKEECHOBEE, caters to 475 students in grades pre-K through 5. Enrollment runs roughly 21% leaner than the state mean of about 604.

Within OKEECHOBEE, which oversees 12 schools and 6,206 students, SOUTH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is one campus in the system.

Demographically, SOUTH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL logs that 57% of the student body identifies as White. Beyond that, the school logs 32% Hispanic, 5% Black, 3% multiracial. By comparison, Okeechobee County as a whole is about 69% White, so the school skews considerably less White than its surroundings.

On the income-and-resources front, SOUTH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL logs 29 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 16.4:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 17.5:1 average. Around 71% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is lower than Okeechobee County's rate of about 80%.

After controlling for student poverty, SOUTH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 45.8% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 52.0%.

In the surrounding community, Okeechobee County reports that median household earnings sit near $57,984, roughly 16% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 14%. Across Okeechobee County's 13 public schools (combined enrollment of about 6,206 students), SOUTH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: OSCEOLA MIDDLE SCHOOL, around 0.2 miles off. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, SOUTH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL comes 1st of 7 in the immediate cluster, higher than the nearby-schools average of 44.1%.

The campus sits in a small-town setting.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count fell 7%: 511 students in 2018 compared to 475 in 2025. Black enrollment moved from 10% to 5% across the same window.

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