Cottonwood Elementary School

Cottonwood Elementary School is an elementary-level community of sprawling scale in Liberal, Kansas, operated by Liberal, teacheing 500 students in grades K through 5. That puts it 60% bigger than the typical public school in Kansas, which averages around 313 students.

Cottonwood Elementary School is one of 8 schools operated by Liberal, a district that works with 4,653 students overall.

Looking at the student body, Cottonwood Elementary School records that 88% of students identify as Hispanic, making the school strongly Hispanic-majority. Beyond that, the school logs 8% White. The wider county runs roughly 67% Hispanic, putting the school's mix visibly more Hispanic than the area baseline.

On the resource side, The school employs 34 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 14.9:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 13.2:1 average. About 89% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Cottonwood Elementary School sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 19.5%; this one delivers 20.9%.

In the surrounding community, census data for Seward County shows median household income runs about $63,827, 11% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 10%. Cottonwood Elementary School is one of 10 public schools in Seward County (combined enrollment of about 5,115 students).

Liberal Sr High is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.6 miles from this campus. Within five miles, there are 7 other public schools. Among the 8 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Cottonwood Elementary School ranks 4th on composite proficiency, ahead of the local average of 16.9%.

Cottonwood Elementary School operates from a small-town location.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count contracted 4%: 519 students in 2018 compared to 500 in 2025. Hispanic enrollment moved from 80% to 88% across the same window.

In the discussion threads here, members of the Cottonwood Elementary School community share and discuss fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.