Best Public Schools in Zip Code 55037

Zip code 55037 contains four schools — one elementary and three high schools — enrolling about 830 students total, with middle-grade students housed inside the secondary school rather than a separate middle school: Hinckley-Finlayson Secondary (grades 7–12, 398 students), Hinckley Elementary (PK–6, 395 students), Pine County Transition Program (9–12, 19 students), and Empower Learning Center (10–12, 18 students). Three of the four belong to the Hinckley-Finlayson School District, which ranks 302 of 458 Minnesota districts at the 34th percentile with 2 stars; Pine County Transition Program is in the St. Croix River Education District.

Among the two comprehensive schools, Hinckley Elementary shows the stronger math and reading results even though 63.29% of its students qualify for free or reduced lunch, compared with 52.26% at Hinckley-Finlayson Secondary. Elementary all-grade math is 39.9% versus 16.7% at the secondary school, and reading is 35.3% versus 28.3%; fourth-grade math reaches 55.8%, slightly above the state's 55.2%. Science is the reverse and the district's weakest subject: Hinckley Elementary is at 15.2% and the secondary school at 18.9%, both below the state's 25.5%. Hinckley-Finlayson Secondary has climbed steadily in rank — from the 16th percentile in 2023–2024 to the 34th, then the 42nd — but its middle grades lag badly, with 8th grade math at 11.3%, 7th grade math at 17.3%, and 8th grade science at 8.0%.

The two small high school programs have limited data. Empower Learning Center has the highest free/reduced lunch share at 72.22%, all test scores suppressed by the state and therefore unknown, plus an 80.0% graduation rate and 10.0% dropout rate — figures that can swing widely with only 18 students. Pine County Transition Program has the smallest enrollment, the lowest student-teacher ratio at 6.3, and the lowest poverty indicator at 31.58%, but no test, rank, graduation, or dropout data. Districtwide, dropout is 8.2% against the state's 4.2%, and reading shows the largest gap to the state, 15.7 points.