Molalla River Academy

Molalla River Academy, a small K-5 school in Molalla, Oregon, run under Molalla River SD 35, instructs 224 students, covering grades K through 8. That puts it 30% smaller than the typical public school in Oregon, which averages around 321 students.

Molalla River SD 35 runs 7 schools in total, collectively educating 2,546 students. Molalla River Academy is one of those campuses.

Demographically, Molalla River Academy lists that the student body is overwhelmingly White (84%). Beyond that, the school shows 10% Hispanic, 3% multiracial.

On the resource side, Staff filings list 13 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 17.2:1 students per teacher. That figure is higher than the state norm's 16.5:1 average. About 65% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. By comparison, Clackamas County runs at roughly 50%, so the school's eligibility rate is somewhat above the surrounding baseline.

After controlling for student poverty, Molalla River Academy is in the bottom 10% of Oregon public schools. The BeatsExpectations model predicts schools with this FRL share to land around 37.5%; Molalla River Academy posts 19.5%, -18.0 points below that line.

Around the school, community-level numbers for Clackamas County indicate the typical household earns roughly $103,517 per year, 41% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 5%. Across Clackamas County's 118 public schools (combined enrollment of about 57,601 students), Molalla River Academy is one campus in the mix.

Molalla High School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 3.2 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 3 other public schools cluster around Molalla River Academy. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Molalla River Academy at 6th of 8; the average score across the group is 25.6%.

Geographically, the school is in a low-density area. Molalla River Academy is a charter school, which puts it inside the public-school system but outside the standard district-managed model.

Five-year trend. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Molalla River Academy has changed only slightly, going from 220 students in 2018 to 224 in 2025. Class-load math has narrowed: from 20.2:1 in 2018 to 17.2:1 in 2025.

Inside the community feed, recent activity here tends to focus on enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. The community welcomes input from current and former families.