The top reported proficiency rate is 0% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Homer Elementary School
Homer Elementary School serves the early grades—prekindergarten through second grade—in a small historic village setting. The school is located on Central Park Place in Homer, a walkable community north of Cortland with period architecture, tree-lined streets, and a town center that has begun a downtown revitalization effort with state support.
The school enrolls a modest number of students across its grade band. About four in ten students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting mixed economic circumstances in the community. The student body is predominantly white, with small populations of Hispanic, multiracial, and Asian students, and very few students of color overall. Data on special education enrollment and English learner populations are not publicly reported for this school.
State testing data for the school is not available. The state assesses reading and math starting in third grade, so Homer Elementary's grades do not appear in state accountability measures. This is typical for schools serving only early grades and does not reflect school performance. A parent seeking information about academic trajectory would need to follow the school's internal assessments and transitions to the intermediate grades, or look to the district's results at higher grades for a broader picture of student outcomes.
Homer Central School District is experiencing significant fiscal strain that directly affects this school. The district faces a structural deficit and will reduce staffing at the end of the current school year to balance its budget for 2026-27. That shift will alter class programming and staffing levels. Recovery is expected to take multiple budget cycles. Alongside the staffing cuts, the district has proposed sharp property tax levy increases—among the highest proposed in Central New York—driven by rising health insurance costs, which will affect homeowners' tax bills.
On a more positive note, voters approved a major capital improvement project in 2021 that funded safety, security, and infrastructure upgrades across all district buildings with no additional tax burden, using state aid and reserves. That work is now underway and represents a lasting facilities investment.
The community itself offers walkable downtown character with civic anchors including the Phillips Free Library on Main Street and the village green. The district's schools sit within or near the historic core rather than on isolated campuses. Homer is in the midst of a state-backed downtown revitalization effort aimed at adaptive reuse of older buildings and mixed-income residential development, which shapes the town's trajectory even as economic pressures persist.
A parent considering Homer Elementary should weigh the school's age-appropriate setting and walkable community context against the district's current budget crisis, which will reshape staffing and programming in the near term. The school itself has no published testing data because early grades are not assessed by the state; families may want to learn more directly from the school about how it approaches early literacy and numeracy and how students transition to measured grade levels.
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