Hayesville Elementary

Hayesville Elementary, a compact K-5 school in Hayesville, North Carolina, operated by Clay County Schools, works with 280 students, covering grades 3 through 5. Enrollment runs roughly 40% smaller than the state mean of about 467.

Hayesville Elementary is one of 4 schools operated by Clay County Schools, a district that serves 1,322 students overall.

Looking at the student body, Hayesville Elementary shows that 86% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. Other groups include 9% Hispanic, 5% multiracial.

On the income-and-resources front, On paper, Hayesville Elementary has 19 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 14.7:1. That tracks the state average closely. 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.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Hayesville 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 62.9%, a residual of +14.2 points.

In the area at large, Clay County reports that the typical household earns roughly $56,971 per year, roughly 32% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 7%. Across Clay County's 4 public schools (combined enrollment of about 1,322 students), Hayesville Elementary is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is Hayesville High, roughly 0.1 miles away. Counting just inside five miles, 3 other public schools cluster around Hayesville Elementary. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Hayesville Elementary at 3rd of 7; the average score across the group is 60.2%.

Geographically, the school is in an outlying area.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count fell 48%: 536 students in 2018 compared to 280 in 2025.

On this page, members of the Hayesville Elementary community share and discuss open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.