Summary:
Bay St Louis, Mississippi is served by two highly rated public schools — Bay High School (grades 9–12, 491 students) and North Bay Elementary (grades 3–6, 348 students) — both within the Bay Waveland School District, which is ranked #1 out of 134 districts in Mississippi with a 5-star rating. With no standalone middle school covering grades 7–8, this small district uses an unusual grade configuration that spans elementary directly into high school.
Bay High School is ranked #16 out of 224 high schools (93rd percentile) and posts a 94.8% graduation rate, well above the state average of 89.2%. Its End-of-Course scores are especially strong in STEM: Algebra I proficiency is 83% versus a 66% state average, and Biology is 84.5% versus 63.1%. English II, at 61.6% versus 49.3% statewide, is solid but represents the relative weak spot. North Bay Elementary ranks #36 out of 377 elementary schools (90th percentile) and is equally impressive, with 5th-grade math proficiency of 81.9% — a remarkable 32.3 points above the state average — and 5th-grade science at 81.7% versus 71.5%. Both schools have similar student-teacher ratios (14.2:1 and 14.8:1), so class sizes are comparable.
What makes North Bay Elementary particularly notable is that it combines a high-poverty student population — 67.24% qualify for free/reduced lunch — with top-10% statewide performance, an encouraging sign of instructional effectiveness. Chronic absenteeism is the main concern at both schools: about 24% of students are chronically absent, meaning roughly 1 in 4, which mirrors the state average. Both schools also show year-to-year rank volatility — Bay High went from #30 to #53 and back to #16, while North Bay moved from #41 to #61 and back to #36 — suggesting cohort variation, but the latest data shows both at or near their strongest recent positions. Parents in Bay St Louis can expect strong STEM-focused academics across both campuses, with English language arts as the primary area for continued improvement.
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