Piney Grove Elementary

As a reasonably sized elementary school in Charlotte, North Carolina, Piney Grove Elementary works with 441 students from grades pre-K through 5, one of the schools within Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.

Within Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, which oversees 186 schools and 145,014 students, Piney Grove Elementary is one campus in the system.

On demographics, Piney Grove Elementary lists that the largest single group is Hispanic at 51%, but no single group is in the majority. The remainder reads as 23% Black, 17% Asian, 6% White, 3% multiracial. That is noticeably more Hispanic than the county at large, where the share is closer to 16%.

In terms of school funding signals, On paper, Piney Grove Elementary has 34 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 13.0:1. The state averages around 14.9:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. Around 99% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. That share is higher than Mecklenburg County's rate of about 71%.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Piney Grove 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 51.8%, a residual of +3.3 points.

Zooming out to the county, the surrounding county (Mecklenburg County) records that the typical household earns roughly $87,005 per year, 49% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 7%. In all, Mecklenburg County runs 226 public schools (combined enrollment of about 170,407 students), of which Piney Grove Elementary is one.

Idlewild Elementary is the nearest neighboring public school, about 1.2 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Piney Grove Elementary. Among the 8 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Piney Grove Elementary ranks 3rd on composite proficiency, above the local average of 44.0%.

The campus sits in a city-core setting.

Looking at the recent track record. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Piney Grove Elementary has declined 44%, going from 790 students in 2018 to 441 in 2025. Over the same period, the Black share declined from 34% to 23%. The student-to-teacher ratio pulled in from 15.0:1 in 2018 to 13.0:1 today.

Inside the community feed, members of the Piney Grove Elementary community share and discuss school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.