Enrollment
86
Iowa · 2024-25 NCES data
Other / mixed grade configuration · Churdan, IA
Paton-Churdan Elementary
Federal NCES profile for Paton-Churdan Elementary, including enrollment, faculty, free-lunch eligibility, demographics, and resource indicators - Resource Investment Index 60/100.
2024-25 NCES dataOther / mixed grade configurationNCES 192238001338
👥 S:T ratio 69
🌟 Gifted program 70
📋 Attendance 42
Scored 0–100 from federal NCES and CRDC indicators, resource allocation, not test scores. Full methodology →
The verdict
Paton-Churdan Elementary earns 60/100 on the Resource Investment Index, with class sizes smaller than 98% of Iowa schools.
- 60
- Resource Index · Higher
- 7.8:1
- small classes for Iowa
- 40.4%
- free-lunch eligible
- 86
- students enrolled
Paton-Churdan Elementary has class sizes smaller than 98% of Iowa schools. Computed live against every Iowa school reporting to NCES.
School address
District: Paton-Churdan Comm School District · Iowa
NCES ID 192238001338 Verify on NCES CCD record →
Teachers (FTE)
11.0
Federal CCD staff survey
Students per teacher
7.8:1
vs 14.8:1 Iowa avg
-47% vs state
Free-lunch eligible
40.4%
vs 36.4% Iowa avg
+11% vs state
Student-teacher ratio in context
How Paton-Churdan Elementary compares with Iowa and U.S. medians
What stands out at Paton-Churdan Elementary
Small campus with unusually lean teacher staffing
Paton-Churdan Elementary 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
Paton-Churdan Elementary'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
Paton-Churdan Elementary 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.
Paton-Churdan Elementary is a small combined-grade school in Churdan, Iowa, enrolling 86 students.
Classes run notably small here: at 7.8:1, Paton-Churdan Elementary is leaner than roughly 98% of Iowa schools and 47% under the state's 14.8:1 norm, more adult attention per pupil than most peers.
Economic need runs somewhat above the state's typical profile, with 40.4% of students eligible for free meals.
This is a small campus: fewer students than 94% of Iowa schools, with 86 enrolled.
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 63 statewide peers matched on enrollment and economic need, it ranks in the upper tier at #10.
Its student body is predominantly White (93% of enrollment) (diversity index 13/100).
Attendance runs somewhat below the norm, with 23.3% of students chronically absent per the 2021-22 civil-rights collection.
Among Churdan's public schools, it stands alongside Paton-Churdan Jr-Sr High School (99 students): Paton-Churdan Elementary is smaller than that campus by headcount and runs leaner classes (7.8:1 vs 33:1).
Its district, Paton-Churdan Comm School District, also runs Paton-Churdan Jr-Sr High School (99 students).
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 Paton-Churdan Elementary compares
Paton-Churdan Elementary on the metrics families compare, against Iowa and U.S. means.
| Metric | This school | vs Iowa | Iowa avg | U.S. avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Students per teacher | 7.8:1 | ▼ 47% | 14.8:1 | 15.7:1 |
| Free-lunch eligible | 40.4% | ▲ 11% | 36.4% | 51.7% |
| Enrollment | 86 | top 94% | - | - |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data School-level CCD + state/national means from Public School Universe · 2024-25
7.8:1
Leaner classes than 95% of US schools, among the more generously staffed nationally.
86
Bigger than 9% of US schools by enrollment, a small campus.
Equity indicators (what these measure)
Economic need
40.4%
free-lunch eligible
- 11% above the Iowa average of 36.4%
Above the 40% Title I schoolwide threshold; federal funds support the whole school, not individual students.
Staffing depth
7.8:1
students per teacher
- 47% below state mean
Top 2% in Iowa - lower ratio than 98% of state schools
Well under the widely cited 15:1 individualized-attention benchmark, among the leaner class loads nationally.
Engagement
23.3%
chronically absent (missed 10%+ of school days)
At or above 20%, the commonly used threshold for "high" chronic absenteeism, signaling significant barriers to regular attendance.
Funding equity
$15,016
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
Counselors0.0 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 93.0%
Hispanic or Latino 5.8%
Two or More 1.2%
Largest group: White at 93.0% of enrollment.
Student-body diversity index 13.2/100
Simpson diversity index - at 13.2, Paton-Churdan Elementary is less mixed than the Iowa school average of 33.8.
Programs
Gifted & talented Yes
Funding & spending
District-wide per-pupil expenditure for Paton-Churdan Comm School District, which includes Paton-Churdan Elementary.
$15,016
Per student
+12%
vs Iowa
Avg $13,441
-15%
vs U.S.
Avg $17,658
Revenue mix
Local 49.7%
State 41.8%
Federal 8.5%
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.
How Paton-Churdan Elementary Compares to District-Mates
| School | Enrollment | Economic Profile | Student-Teacher Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paton-Churdan Jr-Sr High School | Similar size | Similar economic need | Higher S:T ratio |
Comparisons are relative to Paton-Churdan Elementary's own figures; each column derives from NCES Common Core of Data.
Other Schools in This District
- Enrollment
- 99
- Students per teacher
- 33:1
- Resource Index
- 43/100
Similar other schools in Churdan
1 comparable other schools (grades Mixed) serving the same city.
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 (~86 students)
Similar student-teacher ratio (~7.8:1)
Next steps
Verify locally before acting on Paton-Churdan Elementary's federal record.
- Compare Paton-Churdan Elementary against another school. Compare schools
- Paton-Churdan 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 Paton-Churdan Elementary
How many students attend Paton-Churdan Elementary?
Paton-Churdan Elementary has 86 students enrolled. It is a public school in Churdan, IA.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Paton-Churdan Elementary?
The student-teacher ratio at Paton-Churdan Elementary is 7.8:1, which is 47% lower than the Iowa average of 14.8:1 and 50% 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 Paton-Churdan Elementary?
40.4% of students at Paton-Churdan Elementary are eligible for free lunch, compared to the Iowa average of 36.4%.
What is the racial and ethnic makeup of Paton-Churdan Elementary?
The largest demographic group at Paton-Churdan Elementary is White at 93.0% of enrollment, in Churdan, IA.
What is the Resource Investment Index for Paton-Churdan Elementary?
Paton-Churdan Elementary has a Resource Investment Index of 60/100 (higher reported resources relative to schools nationally) based on 3 factors: student-teacher ratio, gifted-program reporting, chronic absenteeism. Not a test-score or academic measure (national median ~41/100, see methodology).
What other schools are in Paton-Churdan Comm School District?
Besides Paton-Churdan Elementary, Paton-Churdan Comm School District also operates Paton-Churdan Jr-Sr High School (99 students). See the Paton-Churdan Comm School District district page for the complete list.
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.