At a Glance
A high-performing zoned elementary drawing Chinatown families into a neighborhood better known for shopping than schooling.
Best suited for
Families — particularly those from the surrounding Chinatown community — who want a calm, well-resourced zoned school with strong academics, an unusually active PTA, and a culturally cohesive environment, and who don't need a demographically diverse setting to feel at home.
Overall Rating
Rating = average of NY State ELA + math proficiency, grades 3–8
Bands are Motley's thresholds on a 0–100 scale, not New York State performance levels.
How this is scored→What stands out
- Zero suspensions for three consecutive years — a remarkably calm environment for a school of nearly 700 kids.
- PTA fundraising of nearly $1,880 per student — almost four times the district average of $517, funding enrichment that most zoned schools can't afford.
- Teacher-reported safety hits 100%, and parent trust in both teachers and the principal sits at 97% — among the highest in District 2.
- Both ELA and math proficiency clear district averages by meaningful margins, with math (78.6%) standing out especially.
- An 88% Asian student body gives the school a strong cultural identity and likely robust family networks, even as it makes for a less demographically varied setting.
Things to consider
- The chronic absenteeism figure (88.6%) is unusually high and worth asking the school about directly — make sure you understand what's driving it before drawing conclusions.
- With a diversity index of 28%, families seeking a more heterogeneous environment may want to weigh this carefully.
- Class size averages 25.8, right at the district norm — this is not a small-class-size school.
- The surrounding neighborhood has very few families with children and is not a particularly kid-centered area on a daily basis, even though the school itself draws a strong family community.
- Test scores have bounced notably post-COVID; the 2025 ELA rebound is encouraging, but math hasn't returned to its 2018 peak.
Based on 2024-25 data
School SummaryDistrict 2
Solidly above district averages across academics, attendance, and survey measures, but P.S. 130 sits a tier below the District 2 headline schools like P.S. 77 Lower Lab (99/100) and the top Success Academy charters. Think of it as a strong, dependable zoned option rather than a competitive-admissions standout.
Academics
Both subjects land above district averages: 76.6% ELA proficiency beats the district's 73.2%, and 78.6% math clears the district's 70.5% by a wide margin. Test scores tell a slightly bumpy story — math peaked around 84–86% from 2017 to 2019, dipped to 76.4% in 2022 (the post-COVID year), and has since hovered in the high 70s. ELA has been more volatile, dropping to 67.2% in 2024 before bouncing to 76.6% in 2025. By grade, fourth-graders post the strongest math numbers (84.6%), while fifth-graders lead in ELA (80.2%). The 2025 rebound in ELA is a good sign, though math remains slightly off its pre-pandemic peak.
Culture
The survey numbers here are about as strong as you'll find in any NYC elementary: 100% of teachers report feeling safe, 97% of parents trust both their child's teacher and the principal, and 92% rate instruction quality highly. The school has logged zero suspensions for three straight years, which is rare in a 638-student school and signals a genuinely calm environment. Attendance runs at a healthy 95.7%. The one number that gives pause is the chronic absenteeism figure of 88.6% — extraordinarily high and seemingly at odds with the strong attendance rate, possibly reflecting extended family travel patterns common in the student body. Parents should ask the school directly how they define and track this metric.
Community
The student body is 88% Asian, 5% multiracial, 4% Hispanic, and 2% White — a diversity index of just 28%, making this one of the more demographically concentrated schools in the district. About half of students qualify as economically needy (ENI of 51.2%), which sits in tension with the surrounding neighborhood's median household income of $139K. The mismatch tells the real story: this school serves immigrant and working-class Chinatown families who happen to fall within its zone, rather than the wealthier, child-light households of SoHo proper. IEP enrollment sits at 16%, slightly above what you typically see.
Neighborhood
The school sits in SoHo-Little Italy-Hudson Square, a famously upscale and touristy stretch of lower Manhattan where only about 12% of households have children and over 78% of adults hold a bachelor's degree. Median home values exceed $1.5 million and homeownership is rare — most residents are renters or pieds-à-terre. The neighborhood's child population is thin, which is precisely why P.S. 130's enrollment is shaped less by the immediate area and more by the nearby Chinatown families who fall within the zone. The feel around the school is urban and commercial, not residential.
Getting here by subway is about as easy as it gets in Manhattan: Canal St (6), Canal St (J/Z), and Canal St (N/Q) are all within a two- to three-minute walk.
Academic Performance
ELA Proficiency
Students scoring proficient or above on the NY State ELA exam.
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Math Proficiency
Students scoring proficient or above on the NY State Math exam.
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
Historical Trends
The dashed line marks 2023, when New York changed its grades 3–8 state tests. Scores before and after it aren’t directly comparable.
2020–2021 data unavailable due to COVID-19
Source: NYC DOE School Quality Reports
Survey Results
NYC School Survey (2025) · 334 families responded (64% rate)
Racial & Ethnic Diversity
NYC DOE InfoHub · 2022-23
PTA Fundraising
Source: DOE Local Law 171 disclosure
Discipline
NYSED Student & Educator Database (2023-24)
Economic Need & Special Populations
How to get in, step by step
Pre-K
P.S. 130 Hernando De Soto also has Pre-K classes. They're a separate application from kindergarten, made on MySchools.
Pre-K application
Applications typically open in the winter and close in the spring, with offers in late spring; the city announces exact dates each year.
Kindergarten
P.S. 130 Hernando De Soto has an attendance zone. At elementary level, in-zone students get a guaranteed seat. Every family still applies on MySchools: the application confirms the zoned seat, and ranking other schools doesn't cost you it.
Kindergarten application
- Opens
- Wed, Dec 9
- Closes
- Fri, Jan 22
- Offers
- Tue, Mar 30
The DOE’s published dates.
- 1Check that your address is inside the zone — zones change, so confirm it before you sign a lease.
- 2Apply during the kindergarten application, even with a zoned seat.
- 3Rank this school along with any others you'd take, in true preference order.
Open houses and tours
We haven’t seen open-house dates for this school yet.
From the MySchools admissions calendar, checked weekly.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- Is P.S. 130 Hernando De Soto a good school?
- On Motley, P.S. 130 Hernando De Soto earns an overall rating of 78/100 — the average of the school's New York State ELA and math proficiency, grades 3–8, shown out of 100. Its state test results run in line with the District 2 average.
- What grades does P.S. 130 Hernando De Soto serve?
- P.S. 130 Hernando De Soto serves grades Pre-K to 5.
- How do students get into P.S. 130 Hernando De Soto?
- P.S. 130 Hernando De Soto admits by zone — children who live in its attendance zone get a guaranteed seat.
- Is P.S. 130 Hernando De Soto public, charter, or private?
- P.S. 130 Hernando De Soto is a public school in NYC Community School District 2.
- What neighborhood is P.S. 130 Hernando De Soto in?
- P.S. 130 Hernando De Soto is in SoHo-Little Italy-Hudson Square, Manhattan.