Prairie View Elementary

As a rural-scale K-5 school in De Soto, Wisconsin, Prairie View Elementary serves 92 students from grades pre-K through 5, operated by De Soto Area School District. Enrollment runs roughly 72% leaner than the state mean of about 323.

Prairie View Elementary is one of 5 schools operated by De Soto Area School District, a district that caters to 440 students overall.

Looking at the student body, Prairie View Elementary logs that nearly all students (96%) are White; the rest looks like 2% Hispanic, 2% multiracial. That composition is broadly in line with Vernon County as a whole.

Looking at school resources, The school currently runs with 10 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 9.6:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 14.7:1, putting Prairie View Elementary tighter than the state norm the norm. An estimated 46% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. That share is higher than Vernon County's rate of about 38%.

After controlling for student poverty, Prairie View Elementary sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 49.6%; this one delivers 47.5%.

Around the school, ACS estimates for Vernon County put the typical household earns roughly $71,893 per year, 25% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 7%. Across Vernon County's 23 public schools (combined enrollment of about 3,669 students), Prairie View Elementary is one campus in the mix.

De Soto Middle is the nearest neighboring public school, about 5.7 miles from this campus. 5 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a ten-mile radius, suggesting a relatively low-density school footprint. On composite proficiency, Prairie View Elementary comes 8th of 8 in the immediate cluster, below the nearby-schools average of 71.0%.

Geographically, the school is in a small-town area.

Trend over the last 7 years. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Prairie View Elementary has edged down 12%, going from 105 students in 2018 to 92 in 2025. The student-to-teacher ratio fell from 10.7:1 in 2018 to 9.6:1 today.

On this page, the feed for Prairie View Elementary typically covers enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.