Lister Elementary School

Lister Elementary School is an elementary campus of mid-sized scale in Tacoma, Washington, operated by Tacoma School District, caters to 376 students in grades pre-K through 5.

Tacoma School District runs 66 schools in total, collectively educating 28,900 students. Lister Elementary School is one of those campuses.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Lister Elementary School logs that the most-represented group is Black (23%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups; the rest looks like 22% multiracial, 18% Hispanic, 15% Asian, 13% White. By comparison, Pierce County as a whole is about 7% Black, so the school skews noticeably more Black than its surroundings.

On the income-and-resources front, Staff filings list 22 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 17.4:1 students per teacher. The state averages about 17.3:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. An estimated 79% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is noticeably above Pierce County's rate of about 50%.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Lister Elementary School tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 27.4% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 28.2%.

In the broader community, Pierce County reports that the typical household earns roughly $99,564 per year, roughly 31% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 6% of residents live below the federal poverty line. In all, Pierce County runs 287 public schools (combined enrollment of about 138,462 students), of which Lister Elementary School is one.

Nearest neighbor: First Creek Middle School, around 0.5 miles off. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Lister Elementary School comes 7th of 9 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 32.5%.

The campus sits in a high-density setting.

Over the past 7-year window. Over the past 7-year window, the student count decreased 15%: 440 students in 2018 compared to 376 in 2025. White enrollment moved from 19% to 13% across the same window. The student-to-teacher ratio widened from 15.2:1 in 2018 to 17.4:1 today.

In the discussion threads here, members of the Lister Elementary School community share and discuss school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.