Chadbourn Elementary

Chadbourn Elementary, a low-enrollment elementary campus in Chadbourn, North Carolina, run under Columbus County Schools, hosts 233 students, covering grades pre-K through 5. Compared to the state average of about 467 students per school, that is 50% leaner than typical.

Columbus County Schools runs 12 schools in total, collectively educating 5,440 students. Chadbourn Elementary is one of those campuses.

Demographically, Chadbourn Elementary logs that the largest single group is Black at 55%, but no single group is in the majority. Other groups include 24% White, 11% Hispanic, 9% multiracial. By comparison, Columbus County as a whole is about 28% Black, so the school skews meaningfully more Black than its surroundings.

In terms of school funding signals, The school currently runs with 18 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 13.1:1. The state averages around 14.9:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. About 99% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Chadbourn Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 48.7%, the actual is 47.1%, a residual of -1.6 points.

Across the wider county, census data for Columbus County shows median household earnings sit near $49,442, about 15% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and roughly 15% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across Columbus County's 21 public schools (combined enrollment of about 8,386 students), Chadbourn Elementary is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is Columbus Career and College Academy, roughly 2.2 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a ten-mile radius, suggesting a relatively low-density school footprint. On composite proficiency, Chadbourn Elementary comes 3rd of 6 in the immediate cluster, higher than the nearby-schools average of 45.0%.

Geographically, the school is in a countryside area.

Trend over the last 7 years. Chadbourn Elementary's enrollment has edged down 18% since 2018, when it stood at 283 (now 233). Over the same period, the Black share edged down from 64% to 55%. Class-load math has fell: from 15.3:1 in 2018 to 13.1:1 in 2025.

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