Best Public Schools in Pinehurst, ID

Pinehurst, Idaho, is served by exactly one school—Pinehurst Elementary School—which enrolls 430 students in grades PK–5 as part of the Kellogg Joint District. For parents, this means all local elementary-aged children attend the same school, and there are no middle or high schools within the city itself, so older students travel to other schools in the district.

Pinehurst Elementary is a high-poverty school, with 61% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch, and it faces significant challenges. The school’s statewide ranking has declined steadily over nearly a decade, from the 45th percentile in 2016–2017 to the 20th percentile in 2025–2026, earning a 1-star rating. Test scores are consistently below Idaho state averages in math, English language arts, and science. For example, in the most recent year, 34.5% of students were proficient in math versus 43.1% statewide, and 43.0% were proficient in ELA versus 54.0% statewide. Chronic absenteeism is also a concern, with 28.9% of students chronically absent in 2023–2024, far higher than the state rate of 13.8%. On a positive note, the school outperforms its district in all-grade math and ELA, and ELA proficiency improved by 3.3 percentage points from the prior year. However, at every individual grade level tested, the school trails the district, which suggests a reporting anomaly in how district-wide averages are calculated.

Looking at grade-level patterns, math proficiency declines sharply as students advance: 40.6% of third graders, 35.4% of fourth graders, and just 27.8% of fifth graders are proficient. By contrast, fifth graders perform relatively well in ELA at 49.3%, approaching the district’s 51.1%. With a student-to-teacher ratio of 16.1 and per-student spending of $10,472 (from 2018–2019), the school has limited resources to address its challenges. Still, parents should note that while Pinehurst Elementary lags the state in every subject, it is a moderate performer within a low-performing district. The biggest opportunities for improvement likely lie in reducing chronic absenteeism and providing extra math support in upper elementary grades.