Twin Cedars Elementary School

Set in Bussey, Iowa, Twin Cedars Elementary School is an intimate K-5 school, overseen by Twin Cedars Comm School District. It hosts 170 students across grades pre-K through 6. That puts it 48% below the typical public school in Iowa, which averages around 325 students.

Twin Cedars Elementary School is one of 2 schools operated by Twin Cedars Comm School District, a district that teaches 312 students overall.

On demographics, Twin Cedars Elementary School logs that nearly all students (93%) are White. Other groups include 4% multiracial, 2% Hispanic. That mix tracks the wider county fairly closely.

Looking at school resources, Twin Cedars Elementary School reports 12 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 14.3:1. That tracks the state average closely. About 34% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Twin Cedars Elementary School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 74.9%, the actual is 66.4%, a residual of -8.5 points.

Zooming out to the county, community-level numbers for Marion County indicate median household earnings sit near $78,680, roughly 32% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 6% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Twin Cedars Elementary School is one of 17 public schools in Marion County (combined enrollment of about 5,571 students).

Nearest neighbor: Twin Cedars Jr-Sr High School, around 0.1 miles off. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Twin Cedars Elementary School at 6th of 7; the average score across the group is 72.3%.

The school occupies a low-density site.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count declined 22%: 218 students in 2018 compared to 170 in 2025. The student-to-teacher ratio pulled in from 16.2:1 in 2018 to 14.3:1 today.

Inside the community feed, members of the Twin Cedars Elementary School community share and discuss classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.