Best Public Schools in Fenton, MI

The city of Fenton, Michigan, is served by 9 schools across two high-performing districts—Fenton Area Public Schools and Lake Fenton Community Schools—covering elementary through high school grades for roughly 4,246 students, with both districts ranking in the top 15% of Michigan districts.

For parents, the standout traditional schools are TomekEastern Elementary School and Fenton Senior High School. Tomek-Eastern ranks in the 90th percentile statewide, with 5th grade science proficiency at 69.2% (29 points above the state average) and 5th grade math at 59.6% (27 points above). Fenton Senior High boasts a 93.7% graduation rate, a 1.7% dropout rate, and 11th grade social studies proficiency of 69.3%—26 points above the state. Across the district, Andrew G Schmidt Middle School outperforms Lake Fenton Middle School significantly, especially in 8th grade PSAT math (49.3% vs. 22.4%). Among elementary schools, Torrey Hill Intermediate School and West Shore Elementary School lead Lake Fenton, while State Road Elementary School posts the lowest chronic absenteeism (9.6%) in the dataset.

However, there are notable concerns. Fenton Horizon Academy, an alternative school serving just 48 students, has a 66.6% graduation rate, a 14.2% dropout rate, and receives only $5,897 per student—less than a third of what North Road Elementary School spends ($18,735), despite Horizon serving the highest-need population (62.5% free/reduced lunch). North Road itself struggles with 23.3% chronic absenteeism and below-district test scores despite its high spending, while West Shore spends the least ($12,213) yet has the lowest absenteeism (10.8%). Math proficiency also erodes sharply across both districts: strong 3rd-4th grade scores (57-68%) drop to 49.3% by 8th grade PSAT math at Schmidt, and further to 32.2% on SAT math by 11th grade. Lake Fenton Middle’s 8th grade math (22.4%) falls below the state average, and 7th grade appears to be a challenging transition year across all schools. These patterns suggest that while Fenton’s traditional schools excel, targeted support is needed for alternative education funding, math transitions, and schools with higher poverty and absenteeism.