Seymour Elementary School

Seymour Elementary School operates as a low-enrollment primary school in Payson, Illinois, operated by Payson CUSD 1. Current enrollment sits at 233 students spanning grades pre-K through 6. Enrollment runs roughly 39% below the state mean of about 381.

Across the 2 schools in Payson CUSD 1 (449 students total), Seymour Elementary School accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

In terms of who attends, Seymour Elementary School records that 92% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. Other groups include 5% multiracial, 3% Hispanic. Compared to Adams County overall, the school's racial mix sits in roughly the same range.

In terms of school funding signals, The school currently runs with 22 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 10.8:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 13.9:1 average. Roughly 50% of students at Seymour Elementary School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Seymour Elementary School tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 42.5% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 37.4%.

In the surrounding community, the surrounding county (Adams County) logs that median household income runs about $66,220, roughly 28% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 9%. In all, Adams County runs 23 public schools (combined enrollment of about 8,717 students), of which Seymour Elementary School is one.

Nearest neighbor: Seymour High School, around 0.2 miles off. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a ten-mile radius, suggesting a relatively low-density school footprint. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Seymour Elementary School at 8th of 9; the average score across the group is 44.1%.

Geographically, the school is in a rural area.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count shrank 25%: 311 students in 2018 compared to 233 in 2025. The student-to-teacher ratio tightened from 14.8:1 in 2018 to 10.8:1 today.

On the community side, the feed for Seymour Elementary School typically covers enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. The community welcomes input from current and former families.