Folkston Elementary School

Folkston Elementary School is an elementary campus of middle-of-the-pack scale in Folkston, Georgia, one of the schools within Charlton County, enrolling 545 students in grades pre-K through 4.

Charlton County runs 4 schools in total, collectively educating 1,613 students. Folkston Elementary School is one of those campuses.

On the student-mix side, Folkston Elementary School lists that the most-represented group is White (54%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups; the rest looks like 31% Black, 10% multiracial, 3% Hispanic. That composition is broadly in line with Charlton County as a whole.

On the income-and-resources front, On paper, Folkston Elementary School has 40 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 13.6:1. That tracks the state average closely. Around 93% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, often used as a Title I proxy.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Folkston Elementary School ranks in the top 10% of Georgia public schools. The BeatsExpectations model, a per-state regression of composite proficiency on FRL share, predicts schools with this student profile to land around 29.5%; Folkston Elementary School posts 63.0%, +33.5 points above that line.

In the surrounding community, Charlton County reports that the typical household earns roughly $61,276 per year, roughly 12% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 18%. In all, Charlton County runs 4 public schools (combined enrollment of about 1,613 students), of which Folkston Elementary School is one.

The closest other public school is Bethune Middle School, roughly 0.2 miles away. 2 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, Folkston Elementary School comes 6th of 9 in the immediate cluster, below the nearby-schools average of 64.3%.

Geographically, the school is in a small-town area.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count held roughly steady: 552 students in 2018 compared to 545 in 2025. Over the same period, the Black share shrank from 36% to 31%. The student-to-teacher ratio tightened from 16.2:1 in 2018 to 13.6:1 today.

On this page, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.