Summary:
Rice, Minnesota is served by a single school — Rice Elementary, a PK–5 building with 357 students in the Sauk Rapids-Rice Public Schools district, which ranks 282 of 458 Minnesota districts (38th percentile, 2 stars).
Because Rice Elementary is the only school in the area, it is the whole story here. Its clearest strength is math: at the all-grades level, 47.9% of students meet proficiency, which is 12.9 points above the district (35.0%) and 3.0 points above the state (44.9%). Third-grade math (60.4%) and fifth-grade math (46.9%) are both above state averages, and fifth-grade reading is a genuine bright spot at 63.3%, which is 7.0 points above the district and 8.8 points above the state. The weak spots are just as clear. Science is the biggest concern at 14.3%, compared with 17.1% in the district and 25.5% statewide. Fourth grade lags substantially in both reading (30.0% vs. 48.8% at the state level) and math (37.7% vs. 55.2%). Overall reading sits at 43.2%, slightly under the district's 43.8% and below the state's 48.6%, largely because fifth-grade gains are offset by fourth-grade results.
The trend line is mixed. Math improved by 3.9 points while both the district and state slipped slightly, but reading fell 6.51 points and science fell 3.73 points. As a result, the school's statewide rank moved from the 57th percentile with 3 stars in 2023–2024 to the 39th percentile with 2 stars in 2025–2026 — essentially level with the district's own 38th percentile and 2 stars. Enrollment is 357, with 33.33% of students eligible for free or reduced lunch and a student-teacher ratio of 12.7, describing a small PK–5 school with moderate economic need.
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