Columbia City School

As a modestly sized elementary-level community in Columbia City, Oregon, Columbia City School teaches 214 students from grades K through 5, overseen by St Helens SD 502. Compared to the state average of about 321 students per school, that is 33% smaller than typical.

Columbia City School is one of 8 schools operated by St Helens SD 502, a district that works with 2,856 students overall.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Columbia City School lists that 79% of the student body identifies as White. Beyond that, the school logs 13% Hispanic, 7% multiracial.

Looking at the economic backdrop, Columbia City School shows 12 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 17.8:1. The state averages around 16.5:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. About 73% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is noticeably above Columbia County's rate of about 62%.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Columbia City School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 34.3%, the actual is 23.4%, a residual of -10.8 points.

In the surrounding community, ACS estimates for Columbia County put the typical household earns roughly $87,458 per year, about 20% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and roughly 6% of residents live below the federal poverty line. In all, Columbia County runs 23 public schools (combined enrollment of about 6,932 students), of which Columbia City School is one.

Nearest neighbor: St. Helens Virtual Academy, around 1.8 miles off. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Columbia City School comes 2nd of 4 in the immediate cluster, higher than the nearby-schools average of 22.8%.

The school occupies a town-center site.

Looking at the recent track record. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Columbia City School has fell 5%, going from 226 students in 2018 to 214 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share ticked down from 83% to 79%. The student-to-teacher ratio widened from 16.2:1 in 2018 to 17.8:1 today.

Within the allk12 community for this school, recent activity here tends to focus on open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.