Bluford Grade School

Bluford Grade School, a close-knit K-5 school in Bluford, Illinois, operated by Bluford Unit School District 318, serves 236 students, covering grades pre-K through 8. That puts it 38% leaner than the typical public school in Illinois, which averages around 381 students.

Bluford Grade School is one of 2 schools operated by Bluford Unit School District 318, a district that serves 370 students overall.

On demographics, Bluford Grade School records that 95% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. Other groups include 3% multiracial. That is noticeably more White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 84%.

In terms of school funding signals, On paper, Bluford Grade School has 20 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 11.8:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 13.9:1 average. Roughly 39% of students at Bluford Grade School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is below Jefferson County's rate of about 60%.

With demographic context factored in, On a poverty-adjusted basis, Bluford Grade School sits in the bottom 10% statewide. Predicted proficiency from the FRL regression is roughly 48.8%; actual is 28.4%, a gap of -20.3 points.

In the broader community, census data for Jefferson County shows the typical household earns roughly $63,118 per year, about 18% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and roughly 11% of residents live below the federal poverty line. In all, Jefferson County runs 31 public schools (combined enrollment of about 5,314 students), of which Bluford Grade School is one.

Webber High School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.1 miles from this campus. Within five miles, there are 2 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Bluford Grade School comes 7th of 8 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 42.5%.

The campus sits in a low-density setting.

Five-year trend. Bluford Grade School's enrollment has shrank 10% since 2018, when it stood at 262 (now 236). Class-load math has pulled in: from 14.9:1 in 2018 to 11.8:1 in 2025.

On the community side, members of the Bluford Grade School community share and discuss classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Members of the school community can share what they know.