Franklin County Community School Corp

Franklin County Community School Corp serves roughly 1,944 students across five schools in Franklin County, Indiana: three elementary schools (Brookville Elementary School, Laurel School, and Mount Carmel School), one middle school (Franklin County Middle School), and one high school (Franklin County High), covering grades PK through 12. The district overall ranks 161 of 374 Indiana districts, at the 57th percentile with 3 stars — but that average masks wide differences between individual schools, which range from 1 star to 4 stars.

Mount Carmel School is the clear academic standout, ranking 180 of 1,015 elementary schools at the 82nd percentile with 4 stars, a level it has held for three straight years. Its proficiency is well above the district in ELA (51.72%), Math (64.66%), and Science (61.11%), with standout grade results including 6th grade Math at 80% and 6th grade Science at 75%. It also has the lowest chronic absenteeism at 12.8%. Franklin County High also earned 4 stars, ranking 115 of 415 (72nd percentile), with a 97.7% graduation rate versus the state's 89.7%. Its SAT Reading/Writing (55.38%) beats the state's 51.90%, though SAT Math (20%) trails the state's 25.60% — an improvement from 14.89%, but still the school's clearest gap.

At the other end, Laurel School ranks 759 of 1,015 (25th percentile) with 1 star, and has slipped from the 44th to the 25th percentile over three years. It has the district's highest free/reduced lunch rate (62.04%) and highest per-student spending ($12,848) alongside the smallest classes, suggesting those resources alone are not lifting results. Franklin County Middle School has also declined, from the 54th to the 37th percentile and now 2 stars, driven largely by Math (22.34%, with 8th grade Math at just 11.41% versus the state's 34.20%). Notably, attendance does not track neatly with achievement here: the high school has the highest absenteeism (25.2%) yet strong graduation results, while the middle school's absenteeism (15.5%) is below the state's 16.7%. Grade-level differences are also large — Laurel's 4th grade ELA is 57.14% while its 3rd and 5th grade ELA are very low — pointing to targeted, grade-specific support rather than blanket labels.