South Graham Elementary

As a mid-tier K-5 school in Graham, North Carolina, South Graham Elementary serves 518 students from grades pre-K through 5, run under Alamance-Burlington Schools.

South Graham Elementary is one of 37 schools operated by Alamance-Burlington Schools, a district that educates 22,661 students overall.

On the student-mix side, South Graham Elementary records that the largest single group is Hispanic at 44%, but no single group is in the majority. Other groups include 30% Black, 17% White, 8% multiracial, 2% Asian. That is visibly more Hispanic than the county at large, where the share is closer to 15%.

Looking at the economic backdrop, The school employs 34 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 15.2:1. The state averages about 14.9:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. Roughly 99% of students at South Graham Elementary qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. That share is higher than Alamance County's rate of about 80%.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), South Graham Elementary sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 48.5%; this one delivers 38.7%.

Across the wider county, Alamance County reports that median household income runs about $65,651, 29% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 10%. Across Alamance County's 42 public schools (combined enrollment of about 25,737 students), South Graham Elementary is one campus in the mix.

River Mill Academy is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.6 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around South Graham Elementary. On composite proficiency, South Graham Elementary comes 2nd of 6 in the immediate cluster, above the nearby-schools average of 36.9%.

Geographically, the school is in an outer-ring area.

Trend over the last 7 years. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at South Graham Elementary has declined 12%, going from 590 students in 2018 to 518 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share ticked down from 27% to 17%. Class-load math has loosened: from 12.4:1 in 2018 to 15.2:1 in 2025.

On the community side, recent activity here tends to focus on classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. The community welcomes input from current and former families.