KIRTLAND ELEMENTARY

KIRTLAND ELEMENTARY is a mid-sized K-5 school in KIRTLAND, New Mexico, one of the schools within CENTRAL. The school educates 388 students in grades pre-K through 6. That puts it 35% bigger than the typical public school in New Mexico, which averages around 287 students.

KIRTLAND ELEMENTARY is one of 16 schools operated by CENTRAL, a district that educates 4,539 students overall.

On demographics, KIRTLAND ELEMENTARY reports that Native American students make up the majority at 80%; the rest looks like 11% Hispanic, 6% White, 3% multiracial.

On the resource side, On paper, KIRTLAND ELEMENTARY has 30 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 13.2:1. The state averages about 12.9:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. An estimated 100% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment.

With demographic context factored in, KIRTLAND ELEMENTARY performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 33.4%, the actual is 28.3%, a residual of -5.2 points.

In the area at large, ACS estimates for San Juan County put median household income runs about $55,872, 18% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 18%. Across San Juan County's 62 public schools (combined enrollment of about 21,309 students), KIRTLAND ELEMENTARY is one campus in the mix.

KIRTLAND MIDDLE is the nearest neighboring public school, about 1.4 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 5 other public schools cluster around KIRTLAND ELEMENTARY. Among the 6 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), KIRTLAND ELEMENTARY ranks 2nd on composite proficiency, ahead of the local average of 26.7%.

The school occupies a town-center site.

Over the past 7-year window. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at KIRTLAND ELEMENTARY has contracted 29%, going from 549 students in 2018 to 388 in 2025. The White share of enrollment shrank from 11% to 6% over that span. Class-load math has pulled in: from 15.3:1 in 2018 to 13.2:1 in 2025.

On this page, the feed for KIRTLAND ELEMENTARY typically covers sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.