The top reported proficiency rate is 70% in Science. The lowest is 22% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Price El Sch
Price Elementary is a public school serving pre-K through fifth grade in Lancaster, a compact, downtown-anchored city in south-central Pennsylvania. The school sits on Fairview Avenue and enrolls roughly the school's expected size for its grade band. Its student body is predominantly Hispanic, with substantial shares of Black and Asian students, and virtually all students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting both the city's demographic makeup and broad economic need in the attendance zone.
On state assessments, Price's results are weak. In math and English language arts, the school's proficiency rates fall well below the midpoint among Lancaster County districts. Its science proficiency, measured in the most recent available year, was stronger, though the tested sample was smaller. Across subjects, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile of the county's schools. A parent considering Price should understand these numbers as real: the school is not meeting grade-level standards for most of its students in core academic subjects. That said, weaknesses like these often reflect the concentration of economic hardship and language development needs in a single attendance zone rather than school-specific failings alone.
The district context matters here. Lancaster School District is in a period of substantial change. The district discovered a significant budgeting shortfall in 2024-25 tied to an accounting error and has committed to consecutive property tax increases over the next several years to stabilize finances. At the same time, Pennsylvania's 2023 school funding court decision has directed substantially more state money to historically underfunded districts; Lancaster is receiving the largest adequacy supplement in its county, a structural shift that is funding expanded services for English learners and students with special needs. Price, sitting in a school where the vast majority of students qualify for free lunch and where language diversity is high, stands to benefit from these new resources.
More immediately, the district is executing the fourth phase of a decades-long facilities master plan. Price Elementary is slated for a new building, with completion targeted by 2028. For a family with young children, this means the school your child attends in first or second grade will likely be substantially rebuilt within a few years, a material upgrade to the physical plant and learning environment.
Lancaster itself is a historic city experiencing active downtown redevelopment. It is one of Pennsylvania's most walkable small cities, anchored by Central Market, the nation's oldest continuously-operating farmers market, and a string of new housing construction—apartments, mixed-use buildings, and renovations to the thousands of older homes that make up the city's residential fabric. Transit is available through Red Rose Transit Authority, and Amtrak connects to Philadelphia. If you are drawn to walkable, mixed-income urban neighborhoods over suburban settings, and if you can engage actively with a school serving students with high academic needs and substantial language diversity, Price fits that world.
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