Dobson Elementary

Dobson Elementary operates as a compact elementary campus in Dobson, North Carolina, part of Surry County Schools. Current enrollment sits at 350 students spanning grades pre-K through 5. That puts it 25% below the typical public school in North Carolina, which averages around 467 students.

Across the 20 schools in Surry County Schools (7,318 students total), Dobson Elementary accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

In terms of who attends, Dobson Elementary shows that 52% of students identify as White, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups. The remainder comes out to 43% Hispanic, 4% multiracial. The wider county runs roughly 84% White, putting the school's mix considerably less White than the area baseline.

In terms of school funding signals, On paper, Dobson Elementary has 23 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 14.9:1. That tracks the state average closely. Around 99% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, often used as a Title I proxy.

With demographic context factored in, Dobson Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 48.6%, the actual is 65.2%, a residual of +16.7 points.

In the surrounding community, community-level numbers for Surry County indicate median household earnings sit near $55,656, 20% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 13%. In all, Surry County runs 30 public schools (combined enrollment of about 11,139 students), of which Dobson Elementary is one.

The closest other public school is Surry Online Magnet School, roughly 0.5 miles away. 6 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, Dobson Elementary comes 3rd of 8 in the immediate cluster, ahead of the nearby-schools average of 59.9%.

Geographically, the school is in an outlying area.

Five-year trend. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Dobson Elementary has fell 8%, going from 379 students in 2018 to 350 in 2025.

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.