Best Public Schools in Zip Code 70345

Zip code 70345 (Cut Off, LA) is home to two schools within the highly-ranked Lafourche Parish district, serving students from Pre-K through 5th grade at Cut Off Elementary School and 9th through 12th grade at South Lafourche High School, with a combined enrollment of about 1,385 students.

South Lafourche High School stands out as the area's top performer, boasting strong academic results with 82% proficiency in Algebra I and 80% in English II, well above state averages. It has earned a 4-star rating and a 91.1% graduation rate, significantly higher than the state's 85.0%, while its dropout rate of 1.5% is half the state average. In contrast, Cut Off Elementary School is a solid choice, particularly in mathematics, where it achieves an overall 82% proficiency rate—20 points above the state average—and 5th graders reach 83% proficiency. However, the elementary school lags in Social Studies (61% overall) and English Language Arts (76% overall) compared to its math performance. The high school is significantly larger (990 students) than the elementary school (395 students), and the elementary school has a more favorable student-teacher ratio of 14.3:1 versus 18.9:1 at the high school.

A critical concern for both schools is chronic absenteeism, which is dramatically higher than district and state averages. South Lafourche High School has a 34.1% chronic absenteeism rate, and Cut Off Elementary School is at 31.5%, compared to the district's 24.6% and state's 22.5%. This creates a paradox where high academic achievement coexists with significant student disengagement. Additionally, the absence of a middle school in the zip code means students must transition to a school outside the area for grades 6-8 before returning to the high school, which may impact engagement and contribute to the high absenteeism rates observed later.