Clare Primary School

Clare Primary School is a big elementary school in CLARE, Michigan, part of Clare Public Schools. The school serves 557 students in grades pre-K through 4. That puts it 51% above the typical public school in Michigan, which averages around 369 students.

Within Clare Public Schools, which oversees 4 schools and 1,554 students, Clare Primary School is one campus in the system.

In terms of who attends, Clare Primary School lists that the student body is overwhelmingly White (90%). Other groups include 5% Hispanic, 4% multiracial. That mix tracks the wider county fairly closely.

On the resource side, Clare Primary School records 35 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 16.1:1. The state averages about 15.8:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. About 55% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. Set against Clare County (around 65%), the school's rate is noticeably below typical.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Clare Primary School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 42.0%, the actual is 39.6%, a residual of -2.4 points.

In the surrounding community, the surrounding county (Clare County) reports that the typical household earns roughly $49,384 per year, 13% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 17%. Clare Primary School is one of 13 public schools in Clare County (combined enrollment of about 3,785 students).

Nearest neighbor: Clare Middle School, around 0.1 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 6 other public schools cluster around Clare Primary School. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Clare Primary School at 1st of 4; the average score across the group is 27.9%.

Clare Primary School operates from a small-town location.

Five-year trend. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Clare Primary School has edged down 8%, going from 604 students in 2018 to 557 in 2025. Class-load math has tightened: from 20.4:1 in 2018 to 16.1:1 in 2025.

On this page, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.