PORTER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

PORTER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is a primary school of close-knit scale in SYRACUSE, New York, operated by SYRACUSE CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT, teacheing 351 students in grades pre-K through 5. That puts it 21% below the typical public school in New York, which averages around 443 students.

Across the 31 schools in SYRACUSE CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT (18,608 students total), PORTER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

On demographics, PORTER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL records that 47% of students identify as Black, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups. Other groups include 24% White, 12% Hispanic, 12% multiracial, 4% Asian. By comparison, Onondaga County as a whole is about 11% Black, so the school skews meaningfully more Black than its surroundings.

Looking at the economic backdrop, PORTER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL reports 28 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 12.5:1. The state averages about 12.8:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. About 75% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is noticeably above Onondaga County's rate of about 49%.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, On a poverty-adjusted basis, PORTER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL sits in the bottom 10% statewide. Predicted proficiency from the FRL regression is roughly 47.3%; actual is 27.5%, a gap of -19.9 points.

Zooming out to the county, community-level numbers for Onondaga County indicate median household earnings sit near $76,945, roughly 39% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 9%. Across Onondaga County's 123 public schools (combined enrollment of about 67,044 students), PORTER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is ONTECH CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL, roughly 0.3 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts PORTER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL at 4th of 9; the average score across the group is 26.1%.

The campus sits in a metropolitan setting.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count fell 29%: 497 students in 2018 compared to 351 in 2025. Over the same period, the Black share edged up from 39% to 47%. Class-load math has narrowed: from 15.5:1 in 2018 to 12.5:1 in 2025.

On allk12, recent activity here tends to focus on pickup logistics, teacher feedback, and after-school programs. The community welcomes input from current and former families.