Vernon Middle School

Vernon Middle School is a mid-tier 6-8 campus in Marion, Iowa, one of the schools within Marion Independent School District. The school instructs 587 students in grades 5 through 8. Enrollment runs roughly 47% bigger than the state mean of about 400.

Vernon Middle School is one of 5 schools operated by Marion Independent School District, a district that caters to 2,163 students overall.

On demographics, Vernon Middle School lists that 80% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. Beyond that, the school logs 7% multiracial, 6% Hispanic, 5% Black. That composition is broadly in line with Linn County as a whole.

Looking at school resources, The school lists 46 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 12.9:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 15.2:1, putting Vernon Middle School tighter than the state norm the norm. Around 38% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Vernon Middle School tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 73.0% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 74.2%.

In the broader community, Linn County reports that median household earnings sit near $77,649, about 35% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 6%. Across Linn County's 83 public schools (combined enrollment of about 36,480 students), Vernon Middle School is one campus in the mix.

Francis Marion Intermediate School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.4 miles from this campus. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, Vernon Middle School comes 5th of 7 in the immediate cluster, below the nearby-schools average of 75.2%.

The school occupies a bedroom-community site.

Trend over the last 7 years. Vernon Middle School's enrollment has edged down 9% since 2018, when it stood at 647 (now 587). White enrollment moved from 87% to 80% across the same window. Class-load math has fell: from 17.1:1 in 2018 to 12.9:1 in 2025.

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