Garfield Elem

Garfield Elem operates as a mid-tier elementary-level community in Ottawa, Kansas, one of the schools within Ottawa. Current enrollment sits at 368 students spanning grades pre-K through 5.

Garfield Elem is one of 6 schools operated by Ottawa, a district that hosts 2,150 students overall.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Garfield Elem lists that 85% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority; the rest consists of 7% Hispanic, 5% multiracial.

On the income-and-resources front, Staff filings list 32 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 11.6:1 students per teacher. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 13.2:1, putting Garfield Elem tighter than the state norm the norm. An estimated 68% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. Set against Franklin County (around 52%), the school's rate is noticeably above typical.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Garfield Elem sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 29.4%; this one delivers 43.7%.

Around the school, Franklin County reports that the typical household earns roughly $77,207 per year, roughly 25% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 6%. Garfield Elem is one of 15 public schools in Franklin County (combined enrollment of about 4,187 students).

The closest other public school is Ottawa Middle School, roughly 0.8 miles away. Counting just inside five miles, 5 other public schools cluster around Garfield Elem. Among the 8 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Garfield Elem ranks 4th on composite proficiency, ahead of the local average of 34.5%.

The campus sits in a town-center setting.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count rose 30%: 283 students in 2018 compared to 368 in 2025.

On this page, posts here usually surface around open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.