Carman-Buckner Elem School

Carman-Buckner Elem School is a medium-sized primary school in Waukegan, Illinois, part of Waukegan CUSD 60. The school hosts 509 students in grades pre-K through 5. That puts it 34% bigger than the typical public school in Illinois, which averages around 381 students.

Across the 22 schools in Waukegan CUSD 60 (13,640 students total), Carman-Buckner Elem School accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

On the student-mix side, Carman-Buckner Elem School logs that the largest single group is Hispanic, at 79% of enrollment. Other groups include 16% Black, 2% multiracial. That is meaningfully more Hispanic than the county at large, where the share is closer to 25%.

On the resource side, On paper, Carman-Buckner Elem School has 35 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 14.5:1. The state averages about 13.9:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. About 82% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. By comparison, Lake County runs at roughly 54%, so the school's eligibility rate is above the surrounding baseline.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Carman-Buckner Elem School tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 24.0% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 12.6%.

In the area at large, census data for Lake County shows the typical household earns roughly $110,416 per year, roughly 48% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 6%. Across Lake County's 214 public schools (combined enrollment of about 118,032 students), Carman-Buckner Elem School is one campus in the mix.

Andrew Cooke Magnet Elem School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.5 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Carman-Buckner Elem School. On composite proficiency, Carman-Buckner Elem School comes 8th of 9 in the immediate cluster, below the nearby-schools average of 22.0%.

Geographically, the school is in a commuter-belt area.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count contracted 16%: 606 students in 2018 compared to 509 in 2025. Hispanic enrollment moved from 70% to 79% across the same window.

In the discussion threads here, posts here usually surface around enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. The community welcomes input from current and former families.