DePue Elem School

DePue Elem School is a close-knit primary school in DePue, Illinois, operated by DePue USD 103. The school caters to 232 students in grades pre-K through 8. That puts it 39% below the typical public school in Illinois, which averages around 381 students.

Across the 2 schools in DePue USD 103 (318 students total), DePue Elem School accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

In terms of who attends, DePue Elem School reports that 90% of students identify as Hispanic, making the school strongly Hispanic-majority. Other groups include 8% White. By comparison, Bureau County as a whole is about 10% Hispanic, so the school skews meaningfully more Hispanic than its surroundings.

On the resource side, Staff filings list 17 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 13.3:1 students per teacher. That tracks the state average closely. Around 89% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. Set against Bureau County (around 53%), the school's rate is north of typical.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), DePue Elem School tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 20.0% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 14.3%.

Zooming out to the county, community-level numbers for Bureau County indicate the typical household earns roughly $69,257 per year, about 22% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 8%. DePue Elem School is one of 22 public schools in Bureau County (combined enrollment of about 4,547 students).

DePue High School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.0 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 2 other public schools cluster around DePue Elem School. On composite proficiency, DePue Elem School comes 7th of 7 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 37.2%.

Geographically, the school is in a small-town area.

Five-year trend. DePue Elem School's enrollment has contracted 24% since 2018, when it stood at 306 (now 232). Over the same period, the Hispanic share edged up from 76% to 90%. Class-load math has grew: from 10.2:1 in 2018 to 13.3:1 in 2025.

On the community side, members of the DePue Elem School community share and discuss pickup logistics, teacher feedback, and after-school programs. The community welcomes input from current and former families.