Sunset Elem

As a reasonably sized elementary-level community in Salina, Kansas, Sunset Elem educates 380 students from grades pre-K through 5, part of Salina. Enrollment runs roughly 21% larger than the state mean of about 313.

Sunset Elem is one of 13 schools operated by Salina, a district that works with 6,441 students overall.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Sunset Elem reports that the most-represented group is White (48%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups. Other groups include 32% Hispanic, 15% multiracial, 3% Black. That is noticeably less White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 82%.

On the resource side, Staff filings list 33 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 11.4:1 students per teacher. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 13.2:1, putting Sunset Elem tighter than the state norm the norm. An estimated 77% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. By comparison, Saline County runs at roughly 58%, so the school's eligibility rate is meaningfully above the surrounding baseline.

With demographic context factored in, Sunset Elem performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 25.4%, the actual is 24.2%, a residual of -1.2 points.

Across the wider county, census data for Saline County shows median household income runs about $65,422, roughly 29% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 9% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Sunset Elem is one of 17 public schools in Saline County (combined enrollment of about 7,580 students).

Cottonwood Elementary School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 1.3 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Sunset Elem. On composite proficiency, Sunset Elem comes 6th of 8 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 32.3%.

The campus sits in a town-based setting.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count contracted 14%: 444 students in 2018 compared to 380 in 2025. The White share of enrollment edged down from 52% to 48% over that span. The student-to-teacher ratio fell from 13.6:1 in 2018 to 11.4:1 today.

Within the allk12 community for this school, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.