PALMER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

As a small K-5 school in PALMER, Nebraska, PALMER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL works with 184 students from grades pre-K through 6, part of PALMER PUBLIC SCHOOLS. Enrollment runs roughly 32% smaller than the state mean of about 272.

PALMER PUBLIC SCHOOLS runs 2 schools in total, collectively educating 313 students. PALMER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is one of those campuses.

For racial and ethnic makeup, PALMER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL logs that 90% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. Beyond that, the school records 6% Hispanic, 4% multiracial. Compared to Merrick County overall, the school's racial mix sits in roughly the same range.

Looking at school resources, Staff filings list 14 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 13.5:1 students per teacher. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 21.0:1, putting PALMER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL tighter than the state norm the norm. An estimated 25% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. By comparison, Merrick County runs at roughly 34%, so the school's eligibility rate is meaningfully below the surrounding baseline.

After controlling for student poverty, PALMER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 67.6%, the actual is 61.6%, a residual of -6.0 points.

Across the wider county, ACS estimates for Merrick County put median household income runs about $68,354, roughly 18% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 3% of residents live below the federal poverty line. PALMER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is one of 7 public schools in Merrick County (combined enrollment of about 1,252 students).

The closest other public school is PALMER JUNIOR-SENIOR HIGH, roughly 0.0 miles away. Among the 7 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), PALMER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ranks 5th on composite proficiency, below the local average of 62.1%.

The campus sits in a small-town setting.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count edged up 10%: 168 students in 2018 compared to 184 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share decreased from 95% to 90%.

Within the allk12 community for this school, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.