Jefferson Learning Center

Jefferson Learning Center is an elementary school of micro-enrollment scale in WILLMAR, Minnesota, part of Willmar Public School District, instructing 89 students in grade pre-K. That puts it 74% leaner than the typical public school in Minnesota, which averages around 344 students.

Willmar Public School District comprises 12 schools with combined enrollment of 4,218 students; Jefferson Learning Center is among them.

Looking at the student body, Jefferson Learning Center reports that the largest single group is Hispanic, at 60% of enrollment. The remainder looks like 31% White, 4% Black, 3% Asian. That is meaningfully more Hispanic than the county at large, where the share is closer to 15%.

Looking at the economic backdrop, Staff filings list 14 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 6.4:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 13.7:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. About 75% 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 Kandiyohi County (around 54%), the school's rate is meaningfully above typical.

Across the wider county, community-level numbers for Kandiyohi County indicate the typical household earns roughly $76,592 per year, roughly 28% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 5% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Jefferson Learning Center is one of 22 public schools in Kandiyohi County (combined enrollment of about 6,213 students).

Nearest neighbor: Jefferson Early Learning Center, around 0.0 miles off. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius.

The campus sits in a town-center setting.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count climbed 197%: 30 students in 2018 compared to 89 in 2025. The Hispanic share of enrollment expanded from 23% to 60% over that span. The student-to-teacher ratio widened from 2.5:1 in 2018 to 6.4:1 today.

In the discussion threads here, posts here usually surface around sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.