Paynesville Area Schools

Paynesville Area Schools is a small Minnesota district serving 894 students across two schools: Paynesville Area Elementary, which covers grades PK–5 with 429 students, and Paynesville Area Secondary School, which covers grades 6–12 with 465 students and therefore includes the middle grades since the district has no separate middle school. The district as a whole is ranked 279 of 458 in Minnesota, at the 39th percentile with 2 stars.

The elementary school is the stronger academic performer. In 2025–2026 all-grade proficiency it scored math 50.0 and reading 55.5, both above the district's 39.4 and 46.4 and the state's 44.9 and 48.6; science was 24.1, above the district's 15.2 but slightly below the state's 25.5. Its 2024–2025 scores were higher still — math 57.69, reading 59.62, science 36.51 — so all three subjects declined year over year, with science falling the most. Its school rank slipped from 76th percentile (4 stars) in 2023–2024 to 71st to 59th (3 stars) in 2025–2026. Grade-level highlights include 4th-grade reading at 64.3 versus the state's 48.8 and 3rd-grade math at 61.7 versus 57.9.

Paynesville Area Secondary School shows a sharp contrast. Its 2024–2025 graduation rate of 95.2% matches the district and far exceeds the state's 84.9%, though its dropout rate of 4.7% is slightly above the state's 4.2%. Test proficiency, however, is below district and state in every subject: math 30.7, reading 38.9, and science 9.3, compared with state figures of 44.9, 48.6, and 25.5. Science is the weakest area, including 8th-grade science at 5.5 and End of Course science at 12.7, and its rank sits in the bottom quartile (25th percentile, 1 star). Grade 6 is comparatively strong in math (42.2 vs 39.5) and reading (62.5 vs 53.4), while 10th-grade reading (27.9 vs 42.5) and 11th-grade math (24.1 vs 35.3) lag. Both schools serve similar populations, with free/reduced lunch near 28–30% and student-teacher ratios of 14.5 and 14.4.