L E Starke Elem School

Set in Pekin, Illinois, L E Starke Elem School is an one-room-style elementary campus, part of Pekin PSD 108. It enrolls 139 students across grades K through 3. That puts it 64% leaner than the typical public school in Illinois, which averages around 381 students.

Pekin PSD 108 runs 11 schools in total, collectively educating 3,126 students. L E Starke Elem School is one of those campuses.

Demographically, L E Starke Elem School logs that 82% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. The remainder consists of 6% multiracial, 6% Hispanic, 3% Black. By comparison, Tazewell County as a whole is about 93% White, so the school skews visibly less White than its surroundings.

Looking at school resources, The school lists 13 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 11.1:1. The state averages around 13.9:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. Around 63% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. That share is north of Tazewell County's rate of about 39%.

With demographic context factored in, L E Starke Elem School sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 35.4%; this one delivers 25.1%.

Across the wider county, census data for Tazewell County shows the typical household earns roughly $77,982 per year, roughly 28% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 6% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across Tazewell County's 56 public schools (combined enrollment of about 18,581 students), L E Starke Elem School is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is Willow Elem School, roughly 0.5 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, L E Starke Elem School comes 8th of 9 in the immediate cluster, behind the nearby-schools average of 30.6%.

L E Starke Elem School operates from a commuter-belt location.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count shrank 33%: 208 students in 2018 compared to 139 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share ticked down from 91% to 82%. The student-to-teacher ratio pulled in from 15.1:1 in 2018 to 11.1:1 today.

On the community side, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.