Enrollment
119
Iowa · 2024-25 NCES data
Other / mixed grade configuration · Morning Sun, IA
Morning Sun Elementary School
Federal NCES profile for Morning Sun Elementary School, including enrollment, faculty, free-lunch eligibility, demographics, and resource indicators - Resource Investment Index 60/100.
2024-25 NCES dataOther / mixed grade configurationNCES 191977001161
👥 S:T ratio 52
🌟 Gifted program 70
🎓 Counselors 60
📋 Attendance 58
Scored 0–100 from federal NCES and CRDC indicators, resource allocation, not test scores. Full methodology →
The verdict
Morning Sun Elementary School earns 60/100 on the Resource Investment Index, with class sizes smaller than 79% of Iowa schools. It is also less racially and ethnically mixed than most Iowa schools.
- 60
- Resource Index · Higher
- 11.9:1
- small classes for Iowa
- 31.5%
- free-lunch eligible
- 119
- students enrolled
Morning Sun Elementary School has class sizes smaller than 79% of Iowa schools. Computed live against every Iowa school reporting to NCES.
School address
District: Morning Sun Comm School District · Iowa
NCES ID 191977001161 Verify on NCES CCD record →
Teachers (FTE)
10.0
Federal CCD staff survey
Students per teacher
11.9:1
vs 14.8:1 Iowa avg
-20% vs state
Free-lunch eligible
31.5%
vs 36.4% Iowa avg
-13% vs state
Student-teacher ratio in context
How Morning Sun Elementary School compares with Iowa and U.S. medians
What stands out at Morning Sun Elementary School
Small campus with unusually lean teacher staffing
Morning Sun Elementary School sits near the smaller end of the Iowa enrollment distribution while also reporting a lower student-teacher ratio than most state schools. That pairing is consistent with a compact, teacher-dense setting, though small scale can limit the number of specialized courses or support roles a campus can sustain. The program and staffing sections below show whether the lean ratio extends beyond classroom teachers into broader student services.
Resource indicators are the standout signal
Morning Sun Elementary School's economic-need measure is not at a state extreme, while its Resource Investment Index is. The campus outranks most Iowa schools on the combined reported-resource measure, so the differentiator comes from staffing, counselor access, gifted programming, or attendance rather than from an unusually low-need population alone. The component breakdown identifies which inputs actually produce that placement.
A combined-grade campus has a different support burden
Morning Sun Elementary School serves a combined grade span rather than a conventional elementary, middle, or high-school band. That structure can require the same campus to cover transitions, counseling needs, and programs for students at substantially different developmental stages, so a single staffing ratio deserves more caution than it would at a narrower-grade school. Federal totals show the available people and programs, but not how those resources are divided among grade levels.
Morning Sun Elementary School is a small combined-grade school in Morning Sun, Iowa, enrolling 119 students.
Class sizes run a bit leaner than typical: 11.9:1 puts it in the smaller third of Iowa schools by student-teacher ratio.
Its free-meal eligibility rate of 31.5% lands close to the Iowa typical range, neither a high- nor low-need campus by this measure.
Enrollment of 119 puts it in the smaller third of Iowa schools by headcount.
Its Resource Investment Index outscores 92% of the 1,322 Iowa schools with a score on record, a top-tier result on this measure.
Against 138 statewide peers matched on enrollment and economic need, it ranks in the upper tier at #22.
Its student body is predominantly White (98% of enrollment), among the less diverse in the state (diversity index 3/100).
Counselor coverage is strong, about 198 students per counselor, inside the American School Counselor Association's recommended 250:1.
16.8% of students were chronically absent in the 2021-22 collection, in line with the post-pandemic national range.
Morning Sun Comm School District operates only this one school, so Morning Sun Elementary School has no district-mates to compare against locally. At 119 students, it is also a small operation, on the smaller end of Iowa's single-school districts.
Sourced from NCES CCD, CRDC, and F-33 (federal records, not a quality verdict). How we source and compute this.
Source: National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data + CRDC + F-33 · 2024-25
How Morning Sun Elementary School compares
Morning Sun Elementary School on the metrics families compare, against Iowa and U.S. means.
| Metric | This school | vs Iowa | Iowa avg | U.S. avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Students per teacher | 11.9:1 | ▼ 20% | 14.8:1 | 15.7:1 |
| Free-lunch eligible | 31.5% | ▼ 13% | 36.4% | 51.7% |
| Enrollment | 119 | top 90% | - | - |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data School-level CCD + state/national means from Public School Universe · 2024-25
11.9:1
Leaner classes than 76% of US schools, among the more generously staffed nationally.
119
Bigger than 12% of US schools by enrollment, a small campus.
Equity indicators (what these measure)
Economic need
31.5%
free-lunch eligible
- 13% below the Iowa average of 36.4%
Below the 40% Title I threshold; federal aid targets individual qualifying students rather than schoolwide programs.
Staffing depth
11.9:1
students per teacher
- 20% below state mean
Top 21% in Iowa - lower ratio than 79% of state schools
Well under the widely cited 15:1 individualized-attention benchmark, among the leaner class loads nationally.
Engagement
16.8%
chronically absent (missed 10%+ of school days)
In the 15-20% range, nearing the "high" absenteeism threshold.
Funding equity
$14,702
per pupil, district-wide
- above Iowa avg of $13,441
Somewhat below the U.S. average per-pupil spend; funding constraints may affect programs, facilities, and staffing.
Support staff
Counselors0.6 FTE
Student-support staffing from the Civil Rights Data Collection.
Discipline context
0
in-school suspensions + 0 out-of-school
Suspension rate: 0.0 per 100 students. Combined in-school and out-of-school rate: 0.0 per 100 students. Reported via the Civil Rights Data Collection.
Student demographics
White 98.3%
Hispanic or Latino 0.8%
Two or More 0.8%
Largest group: White at 98.3% of enrollment.
Student-body diversity index 3.4/100
Simpson diversity index - at 3.4, Morning Sun Elementary School is less mixed than the Iowa school average of 33.8.
Programs
Gifted & talented Yes
Funding & spending
District-wide per-pupil expenditure for Morning Sun Comm School District, which includes Morning Sun Elementary School.
$14,702
Per student
+9%
vs Iowa
Avg $13,441
-17%
vs U.S.
Avg $17,658
Revenue mix
Local 43.4%
State 46.8%
Federal 9.7%
Source: NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey District-level finance · FY 2022-23 Per-pupil expenditure reflects the district-wide average. Individual school budgets are not reported at the federal level.
Similar other schools statewide
Matched by enrollment size and by staffing ratio across all of Iowa, not just this city - a different peer set than the local comparisons above.
Similar enrollment (~119 students)
Next steps
Verify locally before acting on Morning Sun Elementary School's federal record.
- Compare Morning Sun Elementary School against another school. Compare schools
- Morning Sun Comm School District's spending and staffing shape this school. District profile
- Confirm current enrollment and boundaries with the school. Choosing guide
Federal record (CCD 2024-25, CRDC 2021-22) - PlainSchools assigns no subjective rating; the composite quality score is a transparent, reproducible index computed from this cited federal data.
Frequently asked questions about Morning Sun Elementary School
How many students attend Morning Sun Elementary School?
Morning Sun Elementary School has 119 students enrolled. It is a public school in Morning Sun, IA.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Morning Sun Elementary School?
The student-teacher ratio at Morning Sun Elementary School is 11.9:1, which is 20% lower than the Iowa average of 14.8:1 and 24% lower than the national average of 15.7:1. Lower ratios generally mean more individual attention per student.
What percentage of students receive free lunch at Morning Sun Elementary School?
31.5% of students at Morning Sun Elementary School are eligible for free lunch, compared to the Iowa average of 36.4%.
What is the racial and ethnic makeup of Morning Sun Elementary School?
The largest demographic group at Morning Sun Elementary School is White at 98.3% of enrollment, in Morning Sun, IA.
What is the Resource Investment Index for Morning Sun Elementary School?
Morning Sun Elementary School has a Resource Investment Index of 60/100 (higher reported resources relative to schools nationally) based on 4 factors: student-teacher ratio, gifted-program reporting, counselor availability, chronic absenteeism. Not a test-score or academic measure (national median ~41/100, see methodology).
What other schools are in Morning Sun Comm School District?
None reported; Morning Sun Comm School District operates only Morning Sun Elementary School as a public school district in NCES's records.
Related tools
Every figure on PlainSchools is rendered directly from the source NCES, CRDC and F-33 federal records, no number is typed in by an editor. Each school's figures reflect its most recent NCES/CRDC submission on file. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, the data changelog, or report a data error. Data current as of August 2026.