The top reported proficiency rate is 88% in English language arts. The lowest is 65% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Demmitt Elementary School
Demmitt Elementary School serves first and second grade in the Vandalia-Butler City School District, a public school in a small suburban city north of Dayton. The school sits on a campus configuration that fundamentally changed in the 2024-25 school year, when the district reconfigured its three elementary buildings by grade band. All preschool and kindergarten moved to Helke, first and second grades to Demmitt, and third through fifth grades to Smith Middle School, with a new modular classroom building added to support the shift. This means the building and peer group a child knows in Demmitt will be only one or two grades, a compressed band rather than a traditional K-5 span.
Demmitt's enrollment sits at a mid-sized level for its grade band, with roughly balanced cohorts across both grades. About half the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a community with mixed-income households. The racial and ethnic makeup is predominantly white, with smaller populations of students who identify as Black or multiracial, and a very small Hispanic enrollment. Specific data on students with IEPs and English learners was not available in the records provided.
Testing data from the most recent year shows strength in English language arts, where a substantial majority of third graders tested proficient or above. Math proficiency in third grade sits lower by a meaningful margin, with proficiency at about two-thirds of the grade level tested. The school sits in the top quartile among county districts on an overall proficiency index that blends tested subjects and grades, a straightforward signal of academic performance relative to peer schools. State testing results were available only for third grade, as younger grades are not assessed; kindergarten and first-grade performance cannot be measured through state tests. Graduation rates do not apply because the school serves only elementary grades.
The Vandalia-Butler district faced significant fiscal pressure after voters rejected operating levies in 2023. The district imposed budget cuts including staff reductions and program discontinuations, though it did implement all-day kindergarten as part of the reconfiguration, a change that increases state funding per student and alters the childcare model for families with young children. A settlement with the City of Vandalia over tax-abated properties brought relief beginning in fiscal 2025, improving the district's near-term outlook. The last voter-approved levy, renewed in 2020, funds ongoing core programming including art, music, physical education, and busing.
Housing in the Vandalia area sits at moderate cost relative to median household income, with several new residential developments underway that will add single-family and multi-family units in the coming years. The city itself is car-oriented, shaped by proximity to Dayton International Airport and the I-70/I-75 interchange, with a modest downtown core along South Dixie Drive. Recreation centers, parks, and a library branch anchor civic life, though public transit is limited.
Demmitt serves a stable, relatively homogeneous enrollment in a consolidated grade band that is new in structure. Parents considering the school should understand that the building contains only grades one and two, so the peer environment shifts as children progress, and they should ask the school directly about academic supports, reading interventions, and how instruction bridges to the third-grade transition at Smith Middle School. The district's recent fiscal constraints and the newness of the reconfiguration are factors worth discussing with school leadership to understand how the transition is operating in practice.
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