Mountain Iron-Buhl School District

Schools in the Mountain Iron-Buhl School District make up a small northern Minnesota district serving about 637 students across just two schools: Merritt Elementary for grades PK–6 and Mountain Iron-Buhl Secondary for grades 7–12. There is no middle school and no alternative school listed. District-wide, the schools rank 166 of 458, placing the district in the 64th percentile with 3 stars; both individual schools also earned 3 stars in 2025–2026.

Merritt Elementary is the academic standout and the larger of the two schools, with 354 students. Its all-grade proficiency beats both the district and the state in every subject: math at 50.0 vs. 44.9 statewide, reading at 56.1 vs. 48.6, and science at 42.9 vs. 25.5 — a 17.4-point advantage in science. Grade-level highlights include 4th-grade math at 65.0 vs. state 55.2 and 4th-grade reading at 60.0 vs. state 48.8. The main soft spot is 3rd grade, where math is 48.7 vs. state 57.9; after 3rd grade, results are generally above state averages.

Mountain Iron-Buhl Secondary, with 283 students, stands out for improvement and graduation outcomes but has uneven proficiency. Its rank climbed from 48th percentile and 2 stars in 2023–2024 to 67th percentile and 3 stars in 2025–2026, and its graduation rate of 94.7% far exceeds the state's 84.9%, though its dropout rate of 5.2% is above the state's 4.2%. All-grade math proficiency is 26.6% vs. 44.9% statewide, and reading is 43.5% vs. 48.6%. Science is above state overall at 29.4% vs. 25.5%, helped by End-of-Course science at 47.3% vs. 35.0%, but 8th-grade science is very low at 11.1% vs. 16.7%. Its student-teacher ratio is 17.3, compared with 15.5 at the elementary. In short, the district shows strong elementary results, weaker secondary math and reading, and science that is strong overall but uneven by grade.