Panther Lake Elementary School

Panther Lake Elementary School is an elementary-level community of reasonably sized scale in Kent, Washington, part of Kent School District, works with 396 students in grades pre-K through 5.

Within Kent School District, which oversees 44 schools and 25,358 students, Panther Lake Elementary School is one campus in the system.

On demographics, Panther Lake Elementary School shows that the most-represented group is Asian (32%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups. The remainder is composed of 20% White, 17% Hispanic, 14% Black, 13% multiracial. By comparison, King County as a whole is about 21% Asian, so the school skews visibly more Asian than its surroundings.

On the resource side, Staff filings list 27 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 14.5:1 students per teacher. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 17.3:1 average. Around 62% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. That share is noticeably above King County's rate of about 38%.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Panther Lake Elementary School tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 38.5% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 31.1%.

Zooming out to the county, community-level numbers for King County indicate median household earnings sit near $124,746, 57% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 5%. Across King County's 544 public schools (combined enrollment of about 278,492 students), Panther Lake Elementary School is one campus in the mix.

Kent Laboratory Academy is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.5 miles from this campus. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Panther Lake Elementary School comes 6th of 8 in the immediate cluster, behind the nearby-schools average of 37.6%.

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

Five-year trend. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Panther Lake Elementary School has declined 43%, going from 693 students in 2018 to 396 in 2025. Over the same period, the Asian share rose from 20% to 32%. Class-load math has tightened: from 18.9:1 in 2018 to 14.5:1 in 2025.

Inside the community feed, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.