Summary:
Owatonna, Minnesota is home to 11 schools serving students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade, with roughly 4,706 students enrolled across two districts: the Owatonna Public School District (10 schools, 4,662 students) and Technical Academies of Minnesota, which operates CHOICE Technical Academy. The public district ranks 253 of 458 in Minnesota, at the 45th percentile with 2 stars.
Among the traditional schools, Lincoln Elementary is the strongest, with 51.3% proficient in math and 50.9% in reading in 2025-2026, above both district and state. Washington Elementary also beats district and state in math (48%) and reading (49.6%) and has the lowest student-teacher ratio among traditional elementaries at 12.8. Owatonna Middle School is consistently 3 stars, while Owatonna Senior High posts the best outcomes in the group: a 93.7% graduation rate and 2.8% dropout rate, far better than district and state, though its math (37.1%) and reading (43.4%) trail the state. At the other end, Wilson Elementary holds 1 star at the 22nd percentile and sits below district and state in every subject, and Owatonna Alternative Learning Center 9-12 has a 45.6% graduation rate and a 26.3% dropout rate.
Science is a district-wide weak spot in elementary and middle grades — Owatonna Middle's 14.2% and Wilson's 11% fall below the state's 25.5%, and only Owatonna Senior High clearly exceeds it at 33.5%. Higher free/reduced lunch rates generally track with lower proficiency, such as 81.43% at the Alternative Learning Center and 75% at CHOICE, but Lincoln combines a 36.63% lunch rate with strong results. Virtual and alternative programs, including Owatonna Online 9-12 and Owatonna Online 4-6, serve very different populations; with enrollments as small as 14, many scores are suppressed by the state and should be treated as unknown rather than as evidence of weakness.
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