New Era Elementary School

New Era Elementary School is a micro-enrollment primary school in NEW ERA, Michigan, one of the schools within Shelby Public Schools. The school serves 143 students in grades 4 through 5. Compared to the state average of about 369 students per school, that is 61% below typical.

Shelby Public Schools comprises 4 schools with combined enrollment of 1,186 students; New Era Elementary School is among them.

For racial and ethnic makeup, New Era Elementary School reports that the most-represented group is White (50%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups; the rest comes out to 46% Hispanic, 3% multiracial. By comparison, Oceana County as a whole is about 86% White, so the school skews meaningfully less White than its surroundings.

On the resource side, On paper, New Era Elementary School has 11 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 13.4:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 15.8:1 average. Roughly 78% of students at New Era Elementary School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment.

Across the wider county, community-level numbers for Oceana County indicate median household income runs about $62,417, roughly 22% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 9%. In all, Oceana County runs 10 public schools (combined enrollment of about 2,852 students), of which New Era Elementary School is one.

Nearest neighbor: Shelby Middle School, around 4.0 miles off. Within five miles, there are 3 other public schools.

Geographically, the school is in a rural area.

Trend over the last 6 years. Over the past 6-year window, the student count ticked down 28%: 200 students in 2018 compared to 143 in 2024. The Hispanic share of enrollment ticked up from 42% to 46% over that span. The student-to-teacher ratio pulled in from 18.0:1 in 2018 to 13.6:1 today.

In the discussion threads here, the feed for New Era Elementary School typically covers fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.