Franklin Elementary

Franklin Elementary, a close-knit elementary-level community in Wausau, Wisconsin, overseen by Wausau School District, educates 181 students, covering grades K through 5. That puts it 44% below the typical public school in Wisconsin, which averages around 323 students.

Within Wausau School District, which oversees 21 schools and 7,738 students, Franklin Elementary is one campus in the system.

In terms of who attends, Franklin Elementary records that the largest single group is White at 49%, but no single group is in the majority; the rest looks like 28% Asian, 11% Hispanic, 9% multiracial, 3% Black. The wider county runs roughly 87% White, putting the school's mix noticeably less White than the area baseline.

Looking at school resources, On paper, Franklin Elementary has 17 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 10.5:1. The state averages around 14.7:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. Around 69% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is north of Marathon County's rate of about 37%.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Franklin Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 35.3%, the actual is 39.6%, a residual of +4.3 points.

In the area at large, community-level numbers for Marathon County indicate median household income runs about $77,884, 28% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 5%. In all, Marathon County runs 52 public schools (combined enrollment of about 18,592 students), of which Franklin Elementary is one.

Nearest neighbor: Grant Elementary, around 0.8 miles off. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Franklin Elementary at 7th of 8; the average score across the group is 52.0%.

The campus sits in an urban setting.

Five-year trend. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Franklin Elementary has shrank 40%, going from 301 students in 2018 to 181 in 2025. The White share of enrollment ticked down from 56% to 49% over that span.

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