Summary:
Zip code 83318, located in Burley, Idaho, is home to two public high schools within the Cassia County Joint District: Burley Senior High School, a traditional 9-12 high school enrolling 1,031 students, and Cassia Junior/Senior High School, a small 7-12 junior/senior high with just 112 students. The two schools share a district but serve strikingly different student populations, with differing grade spans, sizes, poverty levels, and academic outcomes.
Burley Senior High School is the larger and more academically visible school, with a chronic absenteeism rate of only 9.3%, well below the district rate of 12.5% and the state rate of 13.8%. Despite solid attendance, its test scores trail state averages significantly, with 25.6% proficiency in math, 26.2% in science, and 43.9% in ELA, compared with state averages of 33.1%, 41.2%, and 61.3%. It ranked in the 15th percentile of Idaho high schools for 2025-2026. Cassia Junior/Senior High School faces far greater challenges: 43.4% of its students are chronically absent, more than three times the district and state rates, and its only recent test score shows just 21.4% ELA proficiency, a 22.5-point gap behind Burley. Cassia also has a much higher poverty rate, with 75.89% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch versus 44.71% at Burley.
Although Cassia has a lower student-to-teacher ratio (12.8 vs. 20.2 at Burley) and a far higher poverty rate, its per-student spending is slightly lower at $8,280 compared with Burley's $8,612, a potential equity concern. Both schools report an identical graduation rate of 82.5%, which also matches the district and state rates exactly, so parents should view this figure with caution rather than as a school-specific measure. Cassia's public data is also very limited, with no recent rankings and no math or science scores reported. Overall, Burley is the stronger and more transparent school in the area, while Cassia shows serious absenteeism and proficiency challenges that are important for parents to consider.
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