Morningside Elementary School

Morningside Elementary School is a moderately sized elementary campus in Salem, Oregon, operated by Salem-Keizer SD 24J. The school serves 311 students in grades K through 5.

Across the 65 schools in Salem-Keizer SD 24J (37,776 students total), Morningside Elementary School accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

On demographics, Morningside Elementary School logs that the most-represented group is White (54%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups. Other groups include 25% Hispanic, 9% multiracial, 5% Pacific Islander, 4% Asian. The wider county runs roughly 66% White, putting the school's mix noticeably less White than the area baseline.

On the resource side, Staff filings list 18 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 17.6:1 students per teacher. That figure is higher than the state norm's 16.5:1 average. An estimated 87% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment.

After controlling for student poverty, Morningside Elementary School ranks in the top 10% of Oregon public schools. The BeatsExpectations model, a per-state regression of composite proficiency on FRL share, predicts schools with this student profile to land around 28.6%; Morningside Elementary School posts 47.9%, +19.2 points above that line.

Across the wider county, Marion County reports that the typical household earns roughly $77,351 per year, about 26% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 9%. In all, Marion County runs 111 public schools (combined enrollment of about 53,799 students), of which Morningside Elementary School is one.

Leslie Middle School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.5 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Morningside Elementary School. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Morningside Elementary School at 1st of 9; the average score across the group is 32.0%.

Geographically, the school is in an inner-city area.

Over the past 7-year window. Morningside Elementary School's enrollment has edged down 17% since 2018, when it stood at 376 (now 311). Over the same period, the White share contracted from 69% to 54%. Class-load math has narrowed: from 20.1:1 in 2018 to 17.6:1 in 2025.

In the discussion threads here, posts here usually surface around enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. The community welcomes input from current and former families.