Ruskin Elementary School

Located at 3550 Valdosta Hwy, in Waycross, Georgia, Ruskin Elementary School is a compact primary school that serves 363 students (grades K through 5), overseen by Ware County. By comparison, Georgia's public schools average about 605 students each, so Ruskin Elementary School sits 40% smaller than that benchmark.

Ware County comprises 9 schools with combined enrollment of 5,920 students; Ruskin Elementary School is among them.

Demographically, Ruskin Elementary School records that the most-represented group is White (43%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups; the rest looks like 33% Black, 17% Hispanic, 6% multiracial. That is meaningfully less White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 62%.

Looking at the economic backdrop, The school employs 31 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 11.8:1. The state averages around 13.3:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. About 100% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. By comparison, Ware County runs at roughly 87%, so the school's eligibility rate is above the surrounding baseline.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Ruskin 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 25.7%; Ruskin Elementary School posts 44.8%, +19.1 points above that line.

In the area at large, ACS estimates for Ware County put the typical household earns roughly $47,448 per year, roughly 14% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 17% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across Ware County's 10 public schools (combined enrollment of about 5,927 students), Ruskin Elementary School is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is Ware County High School, roughly 4.1 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a ten-mile radius, suggesting a relatively low-density school footprint. On composite proficiency, Ruskin Elementary School comes 3rd of 8 in the immediate cluster, higher than the nearby-schools average of 42.5%.

Ruskin Elementary School operates from a small-town location.

Over the past 7-year window. Over the past 7-year window, the student count edged down 20%: 451 students in 2018 compared to 363 in 2025. Hispanic enrollment moved from 11% to 17% across the same window. Class-load math has fell: from 13.6:1 in 2018 to 11.8:1 in 2025.

On allk12, recent activity here tends to focus on school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.