The top reported proficiency rate is 0% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Garfield Elementary School
Garfield Elementary School serves kindergarten through second grade in Heath, a small city built around auto-oriented retail and aerospace manufacturing rather than a traditional downtown. The school enrolls a student body that is predominantly white, with a meaningful share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. About one-quarter of the student body identifies as multiracial, Hispanic, or other non-white race/ethnicity, and the school reported no Asian students in recent enrollment.
The school's academic data comes from a single testing result in fourth grade math and English language arts from 2017-18, which is now several years old and does not reflect current performance. That result showed zero proficiency for the tested students, placing the school in the bottom quartile among Licking County's districts on overall proficiency. However, the tested group was very small, so a parent interpreting this number should understand it as a limited snapshot from a cohort of fewer than five students rather than as a firm picture of the school's instruction. State testing data for the grades Garfield actually serves—kindergarten through second grade—is not available because Ohio does not test reading and math in those grades through its state assessment system.
The school is part of the Heath City Schools district, which faced a significant setback in March 2024 when voters rejected a bond levy that would have funded a new K-6 facility to replace aging buildings. This was the district's first failed levy in decades, and the three elementary buildings now in service date back roughly four to five decades. The district has responded by retiring high school bond debt as of late 2024, reducing property-tax burden on homeowners and freeing borrowing capacity for a future building project. At the same time, the district passed a substitute operating levy in May 2023 that locks in funding for materials, maintenance, and utilities without a millage increase. A county-wide property reappraisal in 2023 raised assessed values in the Heath taxing area, which will affect property-tax bills going forward. Families moving to Heath should expect another facilities levy to emerge within a few years, as the district has publicly stated it is working through a long-term facility plan.
The community itself is experiencing growth tied to major employers like Boeing's aerospace-and-defense operations at the Central Ohio Aerospace and Technology Center, with a significant new downtown-style mixed-use development taking shape on vacant farmland behind Indian Mound Mall. Housing values in the zip code reflect a working-to-middle-class market, with an estimated mortgage payment and rental costs that are below the national average and reasonably affordable relative to local household income. The city has no traditional walkable downtown but offers parks, river trails, and the Heath Water Park as civic anchors, along with direct access to State Route 79 and proximity to Interstate 70.
Data on the school's staffing, special education enrollment, English learner enrollment, discipline, and attendance rates were not available in the public reporting. The school's website was also not provided, so parents should visit the Heath City Schools district site directly for current program information, schedules, and contact details.
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