Columbia Elementary School

Columbia Elementary School operates as a small elementary school in Bellingham, Washington, part of Bellingham School District. Current enrollment sits at 187 students spanning grades pre-K through 5. By comparison, Washington's public schools average about 380 students each, so Columbia Elementary School sits 51% smaller than that benchmark.

Within Bellingham School District, which oversees 25 schools and 11,337 students, Columbia Elementary School is one campus in the system.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Columbia Elementary School logs that White students make up the majority at 78%. Other groups include 12% Hispanic, 4% multiracial, 4% Asian. Compared to Whatcom County overall, the school's racial mix sits in roughly the same range.

On the income-and-resources front, The school employs 11 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 17.0:1. The state averages about 17.3:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. About 25% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. Set against Whatcom County (around 47%), the school's rate is meaningfully below typical.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Columbia Elementary School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 63.7%, the actual is 62.4%, a residual of -1.3 points.

In the broader community, community-level numbers for Whatcom County indicate median household earnings sit near $81,784, about 39% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 7%. In all, Whatcom County runs 78 public schools (combined enrollment of about 27,779 students), of which Columbia Elementary School is one.

The closest other public school is Whatcom Middle School, roughly 0.6 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Among the 5 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Columbia Elementary School ranks 1st on composite proficiency, above the local average of 47.4%.

Columbia Elementary School operates from a high-density location.

Over the past 7-year window. Columbia Elementary School's enrollment has decreased 36% since 2018, when it stood at 294 (now 187). The White share of enrollment shrank from 84% to 78% over that span.

Within the allk12 community for this school, posts here usually surface around fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.