NELSON EL

NELSON EL operates as a reasonably sized elementary-level community in DENTON, Texas, operated by DENTON ISD. Current enrollment sits at 527 students spanning grades pre-K through 5.

NELSON EL is one of 46 schools operated by DENTON ISD, a district that hosts 33,329 students overall.

Looking at the student body, NELSON EL records that 40% of students identify as White, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups. Beyond that, the school logs 34% Hispanic, 12% Black, 8% multiracial, 5% Asian. That is considerably less White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 57%.

In terms of school funding signals, The school reports having 41 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 12.9:1. The state averages around 15.1:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. An estimated 39% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), NELSON EL performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 57.0%, the actual is 48.3%, a residual of -8.7 points.

Across the wider county, Denton County reports that median household income runs about $111,498, roughly 49% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 4% of residents live below the federal poverty line. NELSON EL is one of 267 public schools in Denton County (combined enrollment of about 175,222 students).

HOUSTON EL is the nearest neighboring public school, about 1.1 miles from this campus. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), NELSON EL ranks 8th on composite proficiency, behind the local average of 54.2%.

The school occupies a downtown site.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count declined 17%: 633 students in 2018 compared to 527 in 2025. The White share of enrollment contracted from 56% to 40% over that span. The student-to-teacher ratio narrowed from 14.1:1 in 2018 to 12.9:1 today.

On the community side, posts here usually surface around open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.