Lake City Public School District

Lake City Public School District is a two-school Minnesota district serving about 1,189 students: Lincoln Secondary, a grades 7–12 high school with 597 students, and Bluff View Elementary, a PK–6 elementary school with 592 students. The district ranks 210 of 458, in the 54th percentile, with 3 stars.

The two schools have noticeably different profiles. Lincoln Secondary's completion outcomes are excellent — a 97.2% graduation rate and 0.9% dropout rate, far above the state's 84.9% and 4.2% — but its test results are uneven and its ranking is volatile, swinging from 1 star in 2023–24 to 3 stars in 2024–25 and back to 2 stars in 2025–26 (percentile rank 26, then 61, then 35). Bluff View is steadier and slightly improving, moving from 2 stars to 3 stars and from the 46th to the 52nd percentile. Bluff View also has a lower student-teacher ratio (12.8 vs. 19) despite a higher free/reduced lunch rate (36.99% vs. 28.48%).

Academically, math is a relative strength: district math is 46.5% versus the state's 44.9%, with Bluff View at 47.7% and Lincoln matching the state at 44.9%. Reading is below state across the district (44.7% vs. 48.6%), and the weakest result is Lincoln's 10th grade at 28.4% versus 42.5%. Science is the biggest concern, especially at the secondary level: district science is 17.8% versus the state's 25.5%, with Lincoln at 13% overall, 16.9% End of Course, and 10.3% in 8th grade, while Bluff View's 27.9% exceeds the state. Year over year, Bluff View's math and science rose sharply, while Lincoln's math, reading, and science all declined.