LAVA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Set in LAVA HOT SPRINGS, Idaho, LAVA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is a very small elementary campus, run under MARSH VALLEY JOINT DISTRICT. It works with 42 students across grades pre-K through 6. Enrollment runs roughly 87% below the state mean of about 332.

Across the 6 schools in MARSH VALLEY JOINT DISTRICT (1,064 students total), LAVA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

On the student-mix side, LAVA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL shows that 95% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. The remainder looks like 5% Hispanic. That is visibly more White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 83%.

On the resource side, The school currently runs with 3 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 14.0:1. The state averages around 18.1:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. About 52% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. That share is north of Bannock County's rate of about 44%.

In the surrounding community, Bannock County reports that median household earnings sit near $66,499, about 31% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 8%. In all, Bannock County runs 37 public schools (combined enrollment of about 14,358 students), of which LAVA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is one.

Nearest neighbor: MARSH VALLEY MIDDLE SCHOOL, around 8.8 miles off. Within ten miles, there are 6 other public schools, a sparser pattern than typical urban areas.

The school occupies an outlying site.

Trend over the last 7 years. LAVA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL's enrollment has decreased 47% since 2018, when it stood at 80 (now 42). Class-load math has pulled in: from 18.2:1 in 2018 to 14.0:1 in 2025.

Within the allk12 community for this school, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.