Original Research by School Decision on Big Walnut Early Learning Center at Harrison Street
Big Walnut Early Learning Center at Harrison Street is a public pre-kindergarten program serving children at one grade level in Sunbury, a rapidly growing city in Delaware County on the northeastern edge of the Columbus metropolitan area. The school is small, with enrollment made up almost entirely of children who are White, with smaller shares of students who are Asian, multiracial, or Hispanic or Latino. The program sits within Big Walnut Local Schools, the district that serves both Sunbury and the neighboring community of Galena.
Sunbury itself has nearly doubled in population over the past several years and transitioned from village to city status in 2021. The town mixes a historic downtown square with newer residential subdivisions and apartments; it functions as a bedroom community with strong ties to Columbus but also hosts significant industrial employment, including Japanese auto-parts manufacturing facilities and a major Amazon Web Services data center under construction. Regional economic momentum is building from Intel's semiconductor manufacturing project in nearby New Albany, which is reshaping job prospects and infrastructure investment across the area. Housing values in the zip code are above the Ohio state median and continue to rise modestly; rents are stable but also above state benchmarks. This is a solidly middle-to-upper-income area where families are actively buying homes and moving in.
The Big Walnut Local School District has made major investments in facilities to handle enrollment growth. The district opened Prairie Run Elementary in 2020 and a new high school in 2022, both modern buildings designed to serve a significantly larger student population. The district adjusted elementary attendance boundaries effective the 2025-26 school year, using State Route 36/37 as the dividing line between Big Walnut Elementary and Prairie Run Elementary, so new families moving into Sunbury should confirm which elementary their children will attend based on location. The 2023 Delaware County property reappraisal raised assessed values substantially, strengthening the district's property-tax base but also increasing tax bills for homeowners. In late 2025, voters approved a bond levy to roughly double the size of the Community Library in Sunbury, adding a long-term property-tax obligation for district residents.
Big Walnut Early Learning Center at Harrison Street offers pre-kindergarten care and education. No state testing data are available for this grade level, since Ohio does not administer state assessments in pre-K. Information on special education enrollment, English learner enrollment, and free-or-reduced-price-lunch eligibility was not available in the data. A parent interested in enrollment and program details, including classroom structure, curriculum, hours, and application process, would benefit from contacting the school directly or visiting the Big Walnut Local Schools website.
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