Pinecrest Elementary

Pinecrest Elementary operates as an average-sized primary school in HASTINGS, Minnesota, overseen by Hastings Public School District. Current enrollment sits at 436 students spanning grades K through 4. That puts it 27% larger than the typical public school in Minnesota, which averages around 344 students.

Hastings Public School District comprises 11 schools with combined enrollment of 4,041 students; Pinecrest Elementary is among them.

Looking at the student body, Pinecrest Elementary reports that White students make up the majority at 79%. The remainder breaks down as 10% Hispanic, 8% multiracial, 2% Asian.

Looking at school resources, Pinecrest Elementary lists 31 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 14.2:1. That tracks the state average closely. About 26% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. That share is noticeably below Dakota County's rate of about 34%.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Pinecrest Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 51.0%, the actual is 54.7%, a residual of +3.7 points.

Zooming out to the county, census data for Dakota County shows the typical household earns roughly $106,318 per year, 45% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 4%. In all, Dakota County runs 170 public schools (combined enrollment of about 74,687 students), of which Pinecrest Elementary is one.

Hastings Middle School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.2 miles from this campus. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, Pinecrest Elementary comes 2nd of 4 in the immediate cluster, ahead of the nearby-schools average of 47.8%.

Pinecrest Elementary operates from a small-town location.

Five-year trend. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Pinecrest Elementary has ticked down 28%, going from 604 students in 2018 to 436 in 2025. The student-to-teacher ratio narrowed from 18.7:1 in 2018 to 14.2:1 today.

On this page, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.