Bailey Elementary

Bailey Elementary is an elementary campus of mid-tier scale in Bailey, North Carolina, part of Nash County Public Schools, instructing 580 students in grades pre-K through 5. By comparison, North Carolina's public schools average about 467 students each, so Bailey Elementary sits 24% larger than that benchmark.

Across the 28 schools in Nash County Public Schools (14,587 students total), Bailey Elementary accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Bailey Elementary shows that 43% of students identify as Hispanic, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups. The remainder comes out to 31% White, 20% Black, 5% multiracial. By comparison, Nash County as a whole is about 8% Hispanic, so the school skews meaningfully more Hispanic than its surroundings.

Looking at school resources, On paper, Bailey Elementary has 32 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 18.4:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 14.9:1, putting Bailey Elementary higher than the state norm the norm. About 99% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

With demographic context factored in, Bailey Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 48.5%, the actual is 58.4%, a residual of +9.9 points.

In the surrounding community, community-level numbers for Nash County indicate median household earnings sit near $62,426, 22% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 8%. Bailey Elementary is one of 27 public schools in Nash County (combined enrollment of about 14,285 students).

Southern Nash High is the nearest neighboring public school, about 5.0 miles from this campus. Within ten miles, there are 8 other public schools, a sparser pattern than typical urban areas. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Bailey Elementary ranks 4th on composite proficiency, beneath the local average of 58.6%.

Geographically, the school is in an outlying area.

Five-year trend. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Bailey Elementary has fell 8%, going from 628 students in 2018 to 580 in 2025. Hispanic enrollment moved from 48% to 43% across the same window. The student-to-teacher ratio widened from 16.1:1 in 2018 to 18.4:1 today.

On allk12, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.