Central City Elem School

Located at 129 Douglas St, in Centralia, Illinois, Central City Elem School is an intimate elementary school that educates 276 students (grades pre-K through 8), part of Central City SD 133. By comparison, Illinois's public schools average about 381 students each, so Central City Elem School sits 28% below that benchmark.

Operationally, Central City Elem School answers to Central City SD 133, which sets policy, hires staff, and reports enrollment to the state.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Central City Elem School logs that the student body is overwhelmingly White (83%); the rest looks like 8% multiracial, 5% Hispanic, 3% Black.

Looking at the economic backdrop, On paper, Central City Elem School has 22 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 12.8:1. The state averages around 13.9:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. About 58% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Central City Elem School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 37.8%, the actual is 45.1%, a residual of +7.3 points.

In the area at large, census data for Marion County shows median household income runs about $61,240, 17% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 11%. Across Marion County's 27 public schools (combined enrollment of about 5,636 students), Central City Elem School is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: Centralia Pre-Kindergarten Ctr, around 1.8 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Central City Elem School. On composite proficiency, Central City Elem School comes 1st of 7 in the immediate cluster, higher than the nearby-schools average of 31.4%.

The campus sits in a town-based setting.

Over the past 7-year window. Central City Elem School's enrollment has declined 18% since 2018, when it stood at 335 (now 276). The White share of enrollment shrank from 88% to 83% over that span. The student-to-teacher ratio narrowed from 16.7:1 in 2018 to 12.8:1 today.

In the discussion threads here, posts here usually surface around school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.