SOUTHERN HEIGHTS ELEMENTARY

SOUTHERN HEIGHTS ELEMENTARY, a heavily attended elementary-level community in HOBBS, New Mexico, run under HOBBS, works with 472 students, covering grades pre-K through 5. Enrollment runs roughly 64% bigger than the state mean of about 287.

Within HOBBS, which oversees 18 schools and 10,097 students, SOUTHERN HEIGHTS ELEMENTARY is one campus in the system.

On demographics, SOUTHERN HEIGHTS ELEMENTARY lists that 89% of students identify as Hispanic, making the school strongly Hispanic-majority. The remainder breaks down as 10% White. That is noticeably more Hispanic than the county at large, where the share is closer to 63%.

Looking at school resources, Staff filings list 32 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 14.9:1 students per teacher. That figure is higher than the state norm's 12.9:1 average. An estimated 59% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. Set against Lea County (around 73%), the school's rate is south of typical.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, On a poverty-adjusted basis, SOUTHERN HEIGHTS ELEMENTARY sits in the bottom 10% statewide. Predicted proficiency from the FRL regression is roughly 43.2%; actual is 27.8%, a gap of -15.4 points.

In the broader community, the surrounding county (Lea County) logs that the typical household earns roughly $68,015 per year, about 16% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 15%. In all, Lea County runs 38 public schools (combined enrollment of about 15,126 students), of which SOUTHERN HEIGHTS ELEMENTARY is one.

Nearest neighbor: HEIZER MIDDLE SCHOOL, around 0.5 miles off. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. Among the 8 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), SOUTHERN HEIGHTS ELEMENTARY ranks 4th on composite proficiency, below the local average of 29.1%.

SOUTHERN HEIGHTS ELEMENTARY operates from a town-based location.

Trend over the last 7 years. SOUTHERN HEIGHTS ELEMENTARY's enrollment has expanded 6% since 2018, when it stood at 444 (now 472). Class-load math has pulled in: from 17.0:1 in 2018 to 14.9:1 in 2025.

On allk12, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.