Horace Mann Elementary School

Horace Mann Elementary School is an elementary school of modestly sized scale in Iowa City, Iowa, part of Iowa City Comm School District, caters to 207 students in grades pre-K through 5. That puts it 36% below the typical public school in Iowa, which averages around 325 students.

Within Iowa City Comm School District, which oversees 29 schools and 15,111 students, Horace Mann Elementary School is one campus in the system.

On demographics, Horace Mann Elementary School reports that 59% of the student body identifies as White. Other groups include 24% Black, 9% Hispanic, 5% multiracial, 2% Asian. By comparison, Johnson County as a whole is about 76% White, so the school skews meaningfully less White than its surroundings.

In terms of school funding signals, Horace Mann Elementary School shows 18 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 11.4:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 13.7:1 average. About 34% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

With demographic context factored in, Horace Mann Elementary School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 75.0%, the actual is 71.9%, a residual of -3.1 points.

Zooming out to the county, ACS estimates for Johnson County put median household earnings sit near $74,935, roughly 55% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 7%. Across Johnson County's 43 public schools (combined enrollment of about 20,019 students), Horace Mann Elementary School is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: Bohumil Shimek Elementary School, around 0.9 miles off. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Horace Mann Elementary School comes 3rd of 7 in the immediate cluster, ahead of the nearby-schools average of 69.0%.

Horace Mann Elementary School operates from a city-core location.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count declined 13%: 239 students in 2018 compared to 207 in 2025. Over the same period, the Hispanic share shrank from 28% to 9%.

In the discussion threads here, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around pickup logistics, teacher feedback, and after-school programs. The community welcomes input from current and former families.