Summary:
Zip code 80735 is served by two small, rural public schools in Idalia, Colorado—Idalia Junior-Senior High School (grades 7–12, 79 students) and Idalia Elementary School (grades PK–6, 71 students)—both part of the Idalia Rj-3 School District, with roughly 150 students combined.
Both schools stand out for strong reading and writing performance. In 2024–2025, Idalia Junior-Senior High School posted 63.2% ELA proficiency versus the state’s 44.8%, while Idalia Elementary School reached 65.6%—more than 20 points above the state average. The high school also boasts a perfect 100% graduation rate, a 0% dropout rate, and chronic absenteeism of just 7.8% compared to the state’s 28.4%. Both schools have very low student-teacher ratios (10.9 at the high school, 8.3 at the elementary), enabling individualized attention, which likely supports literacy and strong attendance. Nearly 60% of students in both schools qualify for free or reduced lunch, making these academic results especially noteworthy.
However, math is a consistent weakness. On PSAT10, only 25% of Idalia Junior-Senior High School 10th graders were proficient in math versus 36% statewide, while reading and writing was 69% versus 64%. Idalia Elementary School math proficiency also dropped from 40.6% to 30.3% between 2024–2025 and 2025–2026, falling below the state average. This math gap, along with the natural volatility of small-school data (each student equals about 1.3% of the population), helps explain the high school’s ranking decline from the 88th percentile (4 stars) in 2022–2023 to the 48th percentile (2 stars) in 2024–2025. Still, the district’s remarkable reading results, perfect graduation rates, and low absenteeism make these schools strong choices for families prioritizing literacy and a supportive, well-resourced environment.
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