Buckatunna School

Buckatunna School is a small rural PK–8 school in Buckatunna, Mississippi, serving 418 students in the Wayne County School District. In 2025-26, the school ranked 234th out of 377 Mississippi schools, placing in the 38th percentile with a 2-star rating — putting it in the middle of the pack statewide but making it the second-highest-ranked school among its immediate neighbors. Only Clara School ranks higher nearby, while Buckatunna outranks Beat Four School, Wayne Central School, and Waynesboro Riverview School, as well as Sand Hill School from neighboring Greene County Schools.

Academically, Buckatunna performs better than its district profile suggests. In 2025-26, students posted a 45.2% proficiency rate in ELA and 37.8% in math — both above the district averages of 40.0% and 33.9% — and the school outperformed the district in 10 of 14 grade and subject combinations. The brightest spot is 7th-grade math, where 57.1% of students were proficient, nearly matching the state average of 57.7% and beating Clara School by more than 11 points. Grades 5 through 8 are generally strong, with 7th-grade ELA and 8th-grade science also topping district averages. Attendance is another notable strength: the chronic absenteeism rate is just 11.8%, far below the district rate of 17.1% and less than half the state rate of 23.9%, even though nearly all students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.

That said, families should be aware of a few concerns. Third grade is the school's weakest point — only 27.0% of 3rd graders were proficient in math in 2025-26, compared to the state's 48.8% — and early-grade results have been volatile from year to year. The student-teacher ratio has also climbed from 12.9 to 16.3 over three years, now the highest among nearby schools. Finally, the school has slipped significantly from its 2022-23 peak, when it ranked 111th with a 4-star rating, to its current 2-star rating. Buckatunna has proven it can succeed; the challenge ahead is sustaining that success across every grade level.