James J Hilfiker Elementary School

Located at 301 S Sunset Ave, in Gibsonburg, Ohio, James J Hilfiker Elementary School is an average-sized elementary school that works with 371 students (grades pre-K through 5), run under Gibsonburg Exempted Village.

Gibsonburg Exempted Village comprises 3 schools with combined enrollment of 748 students; James J Hilfiker Elementary School is among them.

Demographically, James J Hilfiker Elementary School logs that the student body is overwhelmingly White (89%). Beyond that, the school lists 9% Hispanic.

On the resource side, Staff filings list 23 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 16.2:1 students per teacher. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 17.9:1, putting James J Hilfiker Elementary School tighter than the state norm the norm. Around 43% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. That share is noticeably below Sandusky County's rate of about 52%.

With demographic context factored in, James J Hilfiker Elementary School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 72.6%, the actual is 81.4%, a residual of +8.8 points.

Zooming out to the county, community-level numbers for Sandusky County indicate median household income runs about $62,295, about 18% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 10%. In all, Sandusky County runs 22 public schools (combined enrollment of about 8,558 students), of which James J Hilfiker Elementary School is one.

Gibsonburg Middle School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.6 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 2 other public schools cluster around James J Hilfiker Elementary School. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts James J Hilfiker Elementary School at 1st of 7; the average score across the group is 66.1%.

The campus sits in a countryside setting.

Five-year trend. James J Hilfiker Elementary School's enrollment has edged down 16% since 2018, when it stood at 444 (now 371). The White share of enrollment rose from 85% to 89% over that span. Class-load math has narrowed: from 19.4:1 in 2018 to 16.2:1 in 2025.

Inside the community feed, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.