Summary:
Faribault, Minnesota is home to 15 schools serving students from pre-kindergarten through high school, with a combined enrollment of 3,345 students across elementary, middle, high, and alternative settings. Enrollment is heavily concentrated: the Faribault Public School District operates 8 schools and enrolls 2,992 students, about 89% of the city total, and is ranked 409 of 458 Minnesota districts. District-wide proficiency is 16.8% in math, 27.9% in reading, and 11.4% in science, compared with state averages of 44.9%, 48.6%, and 25.5%. Five schools—Faribault Senior High, Faribault Middle, Roosevelt Early Learning Center, Lincoln Elementary, and Jefferson Elementary—enroll 83.8% of all students.
There are bright spots. Surad Academy Elementary, part of the Surad Academy district, is the only school to beat the state in math (46.0%) and science (27.3%), despite 100% free/reduced lunch; its math rose from 30.56% the prior year. Roosevelt Early Learning Center posted 5th-grade reading of 66.13% and science of 30.65% in 2024-2025, though its listed PK-K grade span conflicts with reported grades 3-5. Laura Baker SUN Program reached 50% reading with only 18 students. Discovery Public School - Faribault had an 80.0% graduation rate and 0.0% dropout rate, and Minnesota State Academy for Deaf also had a 0.0% dropout rate.
Concerns cluster at the largest schools. Faribault Area Learning Center is the most extreme outlier: 32.6% graduation, 23.0% dropout (over five times the state rate), and 0% math and science. Faribault Middle posted 11% math, 28.8% reading, and 6.4% science; Jefferson Elementary had 21.7% math and 26.8% reading; and Faribault Senior High had 23.4% math, 18.1% reading, and 22.0% science, with a 79.1% graduation rate and 7.1% dropout rate. Note that many test scores are suppressed by the state and should be treated as unknown, not as zeros.
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