Dallas Center Elementary

Dallas Center Elementary is one of the compact elementary-level communitys in Dallas Center, Iowa, overseen by Dallas Center-Grimes Comm School District, with 169 students on its rolls from grades K through 4. That puts it 48% below the typical public school in Iowa, which averages around 325 students.

Dallas Center Elementary is one of 7 schools operated by Dallas Center-Grimes Comm School District, a district that hosts 3,743 students overall.

On demographics, Dallas Center Elementary shows that the student body is overwhelmingly White (93%). The remainder reads as 4% Hispanic. By comparison, Dallas County as a whole is about 84% White, so the school skews visibly more White than its surroundings.

In terms of school funding signals, Staff filings list 15 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 11.6:1 students per teacher. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 13.7:1 average. Roughly 24% of students at Dallas Center Elementary qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Dallas Center Elementary tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 80.1% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 85.6%.

In the surrounding community, census data for Dallas County shows median household income runs about $102,379, about 52% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and the poverty rate sits near 5%. Dallas Center Elementary is one of 41 public schools in Dallas County (combined enrollment of about 22,938 students).

Dallas Center-Grimes Middle School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.2 miles from this campus. Within five miles, there are 2 other public schools. Among the 8 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Dallas Center Elementary ranks 3rd on composite proficiency, higher than the local average of 83.6%.

The campus sits in a rural setting.

Five-year trend. Dallas Center Elementary's enrollment has ticked down 39% since 2018, when it stood at 275 (now 169). Class-load math has tightened: from 16.1:1 in 2018 to 11.6:1 in 2025.

On the community side, members of the Dallas Center Elementary community share and discuss classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. The community welcomes input from current and former families.