Catawba Springs Elementary

Catawba Springs Elementary is a K-5 school of medium-sized scale in Denver, North Carolina, run under Lincoln County Schools, serveing 543 students in grades pre-K through 5.

Lincoln County Schools runs 22 schools in total, collectively educating 11,710 students. Catawba Springs Elementary is one of those campuses.

On the student-mix side, Catawba Springs Elementary logs that the largest single group is White, at 68% of enrollment; the rest comes out to 11% Hispanic, 8% multiracial, 8% Black, 3% Asian. By comparison, Lincoln County as a whole is about 83% White, so the school skews considerably less White than its surroundings.

In terms of school funding signals, Staff filings list 33 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 16.4:1 students per teacher. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 14.9:1, putting Catawba Springs Elementary higher than the state norm the norm. An estimated 34% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is noticeably below Lincoln County's rate of about 66%.

After controlling for student poverty, Catawba Springs Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 68.3%, the actual is 74.6%, a residual of +6.3 points.

Around the school, Lincoln County reports that median household income runs about $80,016, roughly 28% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 9% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across Lincoln County's 25 public schools (combined enrollment of about 14,428 students), Catawba Springs Elementary is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: East Lincoln High, around 0.3 miles off. Within five miles, there are 5 other public schools. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Catawba Springs Elementary at 2nd of 7; the average score across the group is 68.9%.

The campus sits in a small-town setting.

Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count edged down 5%: 571 students in 2018 compared to 543 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share decreased from 78% to 68%.

Within the allk12 community for this school, recent activity here tends to focus on school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.