Lakeland Elementary School

Lakeland Elementary School is a primary school of sprawling scale in WILLMAR, Minnesota, part of Willmar Public School District, hosting 623 students in grades pre-K through 5. By comparison, Minnesota's public schools average about 344 students each, so Lakeland Elementary School sits 81% larger than that benchmark.

Across the 12 schools in Willmar Public School District (4,218 students total), Lakeland Elementary School accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

In terms of who attends, Lakeland Elementary School reports that 53% of students identify as Hispanic, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups. The remainder consists of 28% White, 12% Black, 4% Asian, 4% multiracial. That is visibly more Hispanic than the county at large, where the share is closer to 15%.

In terms of school funding signals, The school currently runs with 47 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 13.4:1. That tracks the state average closely. Around 72% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. By comparison, Kandiyohi County runs at roughly 54%, so the school's eligibility rate is meaningfully above the surrounding baseline.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Lakeland Elementary School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 26.2%, the actual is 22.5%, a residual of -3.7 points.

In the surrounding community, community-level numbers for Kandiyohi County indicate median household income runs about $76,592, about 28% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and roughly 5% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Lakeland Elementary School is one of 22 public schools in Kandiyohi County (combined enrollment of about 6,213 students).

The closest other public school is Middle School ALC, roughly 1.0 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius.

The school occupies a town-center site.

Five-year trend. Lakeland Elementary School's enrollment has increased 13% since 2018, when it stood at 552 (now 623). Hispanic enrollment moved from 36% to 53% across the same window. Class-load math has tightened: from 16.2:1 in 2018 to 13.4:1 in 2025.

Within the allk12 community for this school, posts here usually surface around open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.