Van Meter Elementary School

As a well-populated K-5 school in Van Meter, Iowa, Van Meter Elementary School teaches 578 students from grades pre-K through 5, operated by Van Meter Comm School District. That puts it 78% larger than the typical public school in Iowa, which averages around 325 students.

Van Meter Comm School District runs 3 schools in total, collectively educating 1,146 students. Van Meter Elementary School is one of those campuses.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Van Meter Elementary School logs that nearly all students (93%) are White. Other groups include 4% multiracial, 2% Hispanic. The wider county runs roughly 84% White, putting the school's mix visibly more White than the area baseline.

Looking at the economic backdrop, Staff filings list 35 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 16.4:1 students per teacher. That figure is higher than the state norm's 13.7:1 average. About 8% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is noticeably below Dallas County's rate of about 22%.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Van Meter Elementary School sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 87.9%; this one delivers 88.5%.

In the surrounding community, community-level numbers for Dallas County indicate the typical household earns roughly $102,379 per year, about 52% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and the poverty rate sits near 5%. In all, Dallas County runs 41 public schools (combined enrollment of about 22,938 students), of which Van Meter Elementary School is one.

The closest other public school is Van Meter High School, roughly 0.0 miles away. 4 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, Van Meter Elementary School comes 3rd of 9 in the immediate cluster, higher than the nearby-schools average of 83.6%.

The campus sits in a small-town setting.

Five-year trend. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Van Meter Elementary School has edged up 50%, going from 386 students in 2018 to 578 in 2025. The student-to-teacher ratio widened from 14.4:1 in 2018 to 16.4:1 today.

In the discussion threads here, recent activity here tends to focus on school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. The community welcomes input from current and former families.