Best Public Schools in Brandon, MN

Brandon, Minnesota is home to three public schools — one elementary, one middle, and one high school — all part of the Brandon-Evansville Public Schools district, serving a combined 389 students. Brandon Elementary serves grades PK–1 with 107 students, Brandon-Evansville Middle School serves grades 6–8 with 124 students, and Brandon-Evansville High School serves grades 9–12 with 158 students. Grades 2–5 do not appear in this city-level list, so those students likely attend other district schools outside Brandon. The district ranks 87th of 458 Minnesota districts, at the 81st percentile with 4 stars. The middle and high schools have state test scores and rank history; the elementary has no test scores here, likely because it serves PK–1, below typical state testing grades.

The high school shows the strongest outcome data but also the sharpest recent decline. Its graduation rate was 95.2%, well above the state's 84.9%, and its dropout rate was 2.3% versus the state's 4.2%. Yet its rank fell from the 91st percentile and 5 stars in 2024–2025 to the 66th percentile and 3 stars in 2025–2026, with math dropping from 45.83% to 31.3%, reading from 68.75% to 50.0%, and science from 59.38% to 35.1%. The middle school, by contrast, has held steady at 4 stars for three years and is stronger in math, posting 47.9% proficient versus the state's 44.9%, with 7th grade math at 57.1% versus 40.3% and 6th grade reading at 62.5% versus 53.4%. Its weak spot is science at 15.9%, though that is close to the more appropriate state 8th-grade science figure of 16.7%.

Two caveats matter for parents. These schools are small, so year-to-year percentages can swing noticeably, and the reading exam label changed from MCA-III to MCA-IV between years, so reading comparisons deserve caution. Still, the district outperformed the state in math, reading, and science in both years. The elementary stands out on staffing rather than test data, with the lowest student-teacher ratio at 9.2:1 compared with 18.3:1 at the middle school and 15.6:1 at the high school, and the highest free/reduced lunch rate at 40.19%.