Birney Elementary School

Birney Elementary School is one of the middle-of-the-pack elementary schools in Tacoma, Washington, operated by Tacoma School District, with 476 students on its rolls from grades pre-K through 5. By comparison, Washington's public schools average about 380 students each, so Birney Elementary School sits 25% above that benchmark.

Within Tacoma School District, which oversees 66 schools and 28,900 students, Birney Elementary School is one campus in the system.

On the student-mix side, Birney Elementary School shows that 30% of students identify as Hispanic, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups; the rest comes out to 21% White, 14% multiracial, 13% Asian, 12% Black. By comparison, Pierce County as a whole is about 13% Hispanic, so the school skews meaningfully more Hispanic than its surroundings.

In terms of school funding signals, Staff filings list 33 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 14.4:1 students per teacher. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 17.3:1, putting Birney Elementary School tighter than the state norm the norm. About 72% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. By comparison, Pierce County runs at roughly 50%, so the school's eligibility rate is somewhat above the surrounding baseline.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Birney Elementary School tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 32.1% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 26.9%.

Zooming out to the county, the surrounding county (Pierce County) shows that median household earnings sit near $99,564, roughly 31% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 6% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Birney Elementary School is one of 287 public schools in Pierce County (combined enrollment of about 138,462 students).

Baker Middle School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.4 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Birney Elementary School. On composite proficiency, Birney Elementary School comes 8th of 9 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 35.6%.

Geographically, the school is in a city-core area.

Over the past 7-year window. Over the past 7-year window, the student count grew 10%: 433 students in 2018 compared to 476 in 2025. The White share of enrollment decreased from 26% to 21% over that span.

Within the allk12 community for this school, members of the Birney Elementary School community share and discuss enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.