Best Public Schools in Loyalton, CA

Loyalton, California, has two schools in the Sierra-Plumas Joint Unified district: Loyalton Elementary serves grades K–5 and enrolls 199 students, while Loyalton High serves grades 9–12 and enrolls 165. The clearest takeaway is that neither school leads in every subject: in 2025–26, Elementary was 7 points above the state in math and 12 points above in science, while High was 7 points above in English language arts (ELA).

By subject, Elementary is the stronger of the two in math and science, while High leads in ELA. Elementary’s All Grades results were 45% in math and 48% in science, compared with 29% and 33% at High; High’s ELA result was 56%, compared with 41% at Elementary. Against state results, Elementary was 8 points below in ELA, while High was 9 points below in math and 3 points below in science. Grade-level results reveal a notable exception: Elementary grade 4 ELA was 18 points below the state, even though grades 3 and 5 were above it. High also had a 97% graduation rate, 9 points above the state.

Recent results moved in different directions. From 2024–25 to 2025–26, Elementary math rose 14 points and science rose 29, while ELA was nearly unchanged; High ELA rose 5 points, but math fell 4 and science fell 10. SchoolDigger gives the schools similar latest ratings—Elementary is at the 59th percentile and High at the 60th, both with 3 stars—but High’s percentile fell from 78 to 60 after reaching a three-year high. As context, 2024–25 free/reduced lunch eligible measures were 35% at Elementary and 27% at High; student-teacher ratios were 23 and 13.5, respectively. High’s 27% chronic absenteeism, compared with 9% at Elementary, is another important difference for families to consider.