Ford Early Learning Center

Ford Early Learning Center is a low-enrollment elementary-level community in YPSILANTI, Michigan, run under Ypsilanti Community Schools. The school instructs 233 students in grades pre-K through 6. Enrollment runs roughly 37% leaner than the state mean of about 369.

Within Ypsilanti Community Schools, which oversees 12 schools and 3,260 students, Ford Early Learning Center is one campus in the system.

On the student-mix side, Ford Early Learning Center logs that the most-represented group is Black (48%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups. The remainder reads as 26% Hispanic, 12% White, 12% multiracial. That is meaningfully more Black than the county at large, where the share is closer to 12%.

On the resource side, On paper, Ford Early Learning Center has 22 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 10.8:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 15.8:1, putting Ford Early Learning Center tighter than the state norm the norm. About 73% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. That share is north of Washtenaw County's rate of about 34%.

In the area at large, Washtenaw County reports that median household income runs about $89,180, roughly 59% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 7%. Across Washtenaw County's 104 public schools (combined enrollment of about 42,861 students), Ford Early Learning Center is one campus in the mix.

Ypsilanti Community Middle School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.5 miles from this campus. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius.

The school occupies an outer-ring site.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count increased 7%: 217 students in 2018 compared to 233 in 2025. Black enrollment moved from 71% to 48% across the same window.

On this page, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. The community welcomes input from current and former families.