Samantha Smith Elementary

Located at 23305 NE 14th St, in Sammamish, Washington, Samantha Smith Elementary is a moderately sized elementary-level community that serves 545 students (grades K through 5), one of the schools within Lake Washington School District. That puts it 43% above the typical public school in Washington, which averages around 380 students.

Samantha Smith Elementary is one of 55 schools operated by Lake Washington School District, a district that works with 30,986 students overall.

In terms of who attends, Samantha Smith Elementary logs that the largest single group is Asian, at 70% of enrollment; the rest comes out to 20% White, 4% Hispanic, 4% multiracial. By comparison, King County as a whole is about 21% Asian, so the school skews considerably more Asian than its surroundings.

On the resource side, Staff filings list 30 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 18.0:1 students per teacher. The state averages about 17.3:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. An estimated 3% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. Set against King County (around 38%), the school's rate is noticeably below typical.

With demographic context factored in, Samantha Smith Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 78.0%, the actual is 87.1%, a residual of +9.1 points.

Around the school, ACS estimates for King County put median household income runs about $124,746, roughly 57% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 5% of residents live below the federal poverty line. In all, King County runs 544 public schools (combined enrollment of about 278,492 students), of which Samantha Smith Elementary is one.

Nearest neighbor: Inglewood Middle School, around 0.5 miles off. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Samantha Smith Elementary at 2nd of 8; the average score across the group is 79.2%.

The campus sits in an outer-ring setting.

Over the past 7-year window. Over the past 7-year window, the student count fell 22%: 697 students in 2018 compared to 545 in 2025. Over the same period, the Asian share ticked up from 57% to 70%. Class-load math has pulled in: from 19.4:1 in 2018 to 18.0:1 in 2025.

Within the allk12 community for this school, posts here usually surface around school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.