Original Research by School Decision on Lincoln Elementary School
Lincoln Elementary School in Boone, Iowa, is no longer in operation. It closed after the 2022–2023 school year as part of a district-level consolidation plan, and families should understand that its replacement now serves the same attendance zone.
The building that housed Lincoln Elementary had been a regular public school in the Boone Community School District. The school served a grade span that, in the source data, is labeled only as “M through M” without further specification, so the exact grade configuration is not confirmed from the available records. No enrollment figures, demographic breakdowns, state assessment results, or graduation data are available for Lincoln Elementary in any recent year. The absence of this information is consistent with the school having closed before the most recent data collection cycles.
In 2021, voters in the Boone Community School District approved a referendum that allowed the district to build a new elementary school. That new building, named Ledges Elementary School, opened in fall 2023. It replaced both Lincoln Elementary and Page Elementary, consolidating elementary education into a single newer facility. As a result, attendance boundaries across the district shifted. Any student who would have attended Lincoln Elementary now attends Ledges Elementary, or another school depending on the new boundaries. The closure and consolidation were part of a capital project that the district carried out with referendum-approved funding.
Boone, where Lincoln Elementary was located, is a county seat in central Iowa with a population that has remained essentially flat in recent years. Its economy is shaped by Fareway grocery headquarters and business offices, Union Pacific railroad operations, a Des Moines Area Community College campus, and annual events like Pufferbilly Days and the Farm Progress Show. The built environment is that of a traditional small Midwestern county seat with a downtown core, residential neighborhoods, and parks such as J.B. McHose Park. Housing in the ZIP code covering Boone is priced below the state median home value, and typical rents are also below the state median, reflecting the area’s modest cost of living relative to Iowa as a whole and to national benchmarks.
Because Lincoln Elementary is closed, no current data on its academic performance, student body composition, or staffing is available for review. State testing data does not exist for the school in recent years, and no graduation rate is applicable since the school did not serve high school grades. Families moving into the neighborhood that was formerly served by Lincoln Elementary should direct their inquiries to the Boone Community School District central office to confirm which school currently serves their address. Ledges Elementary, which opened in 2023, is the district’s newest elementary building and was designed to consolidate the student populations of both Lincoln and Page elementaries.
The key takeaway for any parent or resident considering this school is straightforward: Lincoln Elementary School does not exist as an operational school. Its legacy is that of a closed building that was replaced by a newer school in a district that invested in consolidation. Anyone looking for information about the elementary education options in that part of Boone should instead research Ledges Elementary or contact the district to understand the current attendance boundaries and program offerings.
See more original research from School Decision →