W A White Elem

W A White Elem is one of the low-enrollment elementary schools in Emporia, Kansas, part of Emporia, with 248 students on its rolls from grades pre-K through 5. By comparison, Kansas's public schools average about 313 students each, so W A White Elem sits 21% below that benchmark.

Emporia comprises 8 schools with combined enrollment of 4,261 students; W A White Elem is among them.

On demographics, W A White Elem lists that the largest single group is Hispanic at 44%, but no single group is in the majority. Beyond that, the school reports 42% White, 13% multiracial. By comparison, Lyon County as a whole is about 24% Hispanic, so the school skews meaningfully more Hispanic than its surroundings.

On the resource side, Staff filings list 19 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 13.4:1 students per teacher. That tracks the state average closely. An estimated 83% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. By comparison, Lyon County runs at roughly 59%, so the school's eligibility rate is meaningfully above the surrounding baseline.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, W A White Elem performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 22.2%, the actual is 25.6%, a residual of +3.4 points.

Across the wider county, community-level numbers for Lyon County indicate median household earnings sit near $59,912, about 26% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 8%. In all, Lyon County runs 14 public schools (combined enrollment of about 5,122 students), of which W A White Elem is one.

The closest other public school is Walnut Elem, roughly 0.8 miles away. Within five miles, there are 7 other public schools. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts W A White Elem at 6th of 9; the average score across the group is 33.4%.

The campus sits in a town-based setting.

Looking at the recent track record. W A White Elem's enrollment has contracted 15% since 2018, when it stood at 291 (now 248). The Hispanic share of enrollment ticked up from 38% to 44% over that span. Class-load math has rose: from 11.3:1 in 2018 to 13.4:1 in 2025.

On the community side, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.