Pana Elem School

Set in Pana, Illinois, Pana Elem School is a reasonably sized primary school, part of Pana CUSD 8. It enrolls 507 students across grades pre-K through 5. That puts it 33% larger than the typical public school in Illinois, which averages around 381 students.

Pana CUSD 8 comprises 4 schools with combined enrollment of 1,454 students; Pana Elem School is among them.

Demographically, Pana Elem School lists that nearly all students (96%) are White. Beyond that, the school reports 3% multiracial. That composition is broadly in line with Christian County as a whole.

On the resource side, Staff filings list 35 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 14.5:1 students per teacher. That tracks the state average closely. Roughly 59% of students at Pana Elem School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. Set against Christian County (around 50%), the school's rate is somewhat above typical.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Pana Elem School sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 37.6%; this one delivers 43.7%.

Zooming out to the county, census data for Christian County shows median household income runs about $62,611, roughly 17% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 7% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Pana Elem School is one of 19 public schools in Christian County (combined enrollment of about 4,740 students).

Nearest neighbor: Pana Jr High School, around 0.1 miles off. Within five miles, there are 3 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Pana Elem School comes 5th of 7 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 46.9%.

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

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count climbed 83%: 277 students in 2018 compared to 507 in 2025. Class-load math has narrowed: from 15.6:1 in 2018 to 14.5:1 in 2025.

Within the allk12 community for this school, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. Members of the school community can share what they know.