East Mills Elementary School

Set in Malvern, Iowa, East Mills Elementary School is a modestly sized K-5 school, operated by East Mills Comm School District. It works with 214 students across grades pre-K through 5. That puts it 34% smaller than the typical public school in Iowa, which averages around 325 students.

East Mills Comm School District runs 2 schools in total, collectively educating 448 students. East Mills Elementary School is one of those campuses.

In terms of who attends, East Mills Elementary School logs that 92% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. Other groups include 4% Hispanic, 4% multiracial. Compared to Mills County overall, the school's racial mix sits in roughly the same range.

Looking at the economic backdrop, Staff filings list 22 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 9.8:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 13.7:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. Roughly 48% of students at East Mills Elementary School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), East Mills Elementary School tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 68.1% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 65.5%.

Across the wider county, the surrounding county (Mills County) reports that median household income runs about $90,753, 31% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and roughly 5% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across Mills County's 6 public schools (combined enrollment of about 2,449 students), East Mills Elementary School is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is East Mills Jr/Sr High School, roughly 0.0 miles away. 7 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a ten-mile radius, suggesting a relatively low-density school footprint. On composite proficiency, East Mills Elementary School comes 8th of 8 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 78.8%.

The campus sits in a small-town setting.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count contracted 18%: 261 students in 2018 compared to 214 in 2025. Class-load math has fell: from 14.2:1 in 2018 to 9.8:1 in 2025.

Inside the community feed, recent activity here tends to focus on school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. Members of the school community can share what they know.