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Schools in Zip Code 28734

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At a glance

Schools

4,129

Students

Top rankedMacon Early College High School142^nd of 662 North Carolina high schools

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Biggest riser

Iotla Valley Elementary up 174 spots statewide this year

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Smallest classes

East Franklin Elementary 12.5 students per teacher

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Newly ranked this year

Bartram Academy

SchoolDigger ratings

4★

3★

2★

1★

0★

4 schools without a SchoolDigger rating (private or too few tested students)

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Summary:

Schools in zip code 28734 (Franklin, NC) comprise 10 public schools — four elementary, two middle-level, three high schools, plus an alternative K-12 academy — serving about 4,028 students under Macon County Schools, a district rated 131st of 246 in North Carolina (2 stars). Economic disadvantage is a defining characteristic: seven of the ten schools report free/reduced lunch eligibility above 98%, with an enrollment-weighted rate of roughly 85%. Elementary schools serve PK-4, a 5-6 intermediate school and a 7-8 middle school split the middle grades, and high school options range from a traditional high school to an early college to alternative academies.

Macon Early College High School is the clear academic standout, ranking in the 79th percentile statewide with 4 stars while serving a student body with 98% economic disadvantage. It outperforms the state in every subject: English II proficiency is 97.1% versus 64.6%, and Math I is 88.9% versus 42.1%. Among elementary schools, Cartoogechaye Elementary (55th percentile, 3 stars) and Iotla Valley Elementary (51st percentile, 3 stars) are the strongest options, with 4th grade reading at 65.7% and 57.7%, respectively. Franklin High, the largest school at 996 students, graduates 94.8% of its students with chronic absenteeism of just 12.4%.

The most serious concerns center on Bartram Academy (1st percentile, 0 stars, 64.9% graduation rate) and East Franklin Elementary (18th percentile, down from 41st in 2023-24). South Macon Elementary has also declined from the 69th to the 37th percentile over the same period. Chronic absenteeism tracks closely with low performance: Macon Virtual Academy reports 48.5%, Bartram Academy 47.7%, and Mountain View Intermediate 27.6% — the latter with 6th grade math proficiency of 46.3% versus 59.2% statewide. Macon Early College High School, by contrast, reports just 6.1%. Schools with nearly identical poverty levels produce widely different results, indicating that school-level practices and climate matter considerably.

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Ranking:

E Elementary M Middle H High A Alternative P Private

Choose columns to see: Summary School Students/Teachers Ranking Test Scores Finance All

School													Students/Teachers											Ranking (2026)				Ranking (2025)				EOC Biology (2026)	EOC English II (2026)	EOC Math I (2026)	EOC Math III (2026)	EOG Mathematics (2026)						EOG Reading (2026)						EOG Science (2026)		Per Pupil Expenditures (2019)
Name	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	Enrollment	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/Discounted Lunch Recipients (2025)	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Average Standard Score (2026)	Statewide Rank (2026)	State Percentile (2026)	SchoolDigger Rating (2026)	Average Standard Score (2025)	Statewide Rank (2025)	State Percentile (2025)	Rank Change from Previous Year	EOC Biology End of Course	EOC English II End of Course	EOC Math I End of Course	EOC Math III End of Course	EOG Mathematics 3rd Grade	EOG Mathematics 4th Grade	EOG Mathematics 5th Grade	EOG Mathematics 6th Grade	EOG Mathematics 7th Grade	EOG Mathematics 8th Grade	EOG Reading 3rd Grade	EOG Reading 4th Grade	EOG Reading 5th Grade	EOG Reading 6th Grade	EOG Reading 7th Grade	EOG Reading 8th Grade	EOG Science 5th Grade	EOG Science 8th Grade	Per Pupil Expenditures Total	Sub-total from Federal Funds	Sub-total from State/Local Funds
Cartoogechaye Elementary	Public	PK, KG-4	3295 Old Murphy Road	Franklin	28734	Macon County	Macon County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(828) 524-2845	354	25	14.3	99.2%	256 (72.3%)	5 (1.4%)	76 (21.5%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	16 (4.5%)	53.4	676^th of 1492 public elementary schools	54.7%		61.1	545^th of 1490 public elementary schools	63.4%	131					61.5	61.4					50.8	65.7							$10,078	$941	$9,137
East Franklin Elementary	Public	K-4	100 Watauga St	Franklin	28734	Macon County	Macon County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(828) 524-3216	315	25	12.5	99.0%	200 (63.5%)	0 (0.0%)	109 (34.6%)	1 (0.3%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (1.3%)	23.2	1222^nd of 1492 public elementary schools	18.1%		31.1	1072^nd of 1490 public elementary schools	28.1%	150					56.1	44.4					40.9	42.9							$10,178	$875	$9,304
Franklin High	Public	9-12	100 Panther Drive	Franklin	28734	Macon County	Macon County Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 524-6467	996	47	21.2	46.3%	685 (68.8%)	8 (0.8%)	260 (26.1%)	6 (0.6%)	3 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	34 (3.4%)	44.8	369^th of 662 public high schools	44.3%		48.6	313^th of 641 public high schools	51.2%	56	54.0	62.6	36.5	74.2															$9,457	$662	$8,795
Iotla Valley Elementary	Public	PK, KG-4	1166 Iotla Church Road	Franklin	28734	Macon County	Macon County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(828) 524-2938	408	32	12.9	99.3%	328 (80.4%)	2 (0.5%)	64 (15.7%)	2 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	12 (2.9%)	50.1	726^th of 1492 public elementary schools	51.3%		41	900^th of 1490 public elementary schools	39.6%	174					61.2	62.0					54.1	57.7							$10,664	$1,364	$9,300
Macon Middle School	Public	7-8	1345 Wells Grove Rd	Franklin	28734	Macon County	Macon County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(828) 524-3766	576	41	13.9	99.5%	402 (69.8%)	6 (1.0%)	149 (25.9%)	2 (0.3%)	4 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	13 (2.3%)	42.5	457^th of 778 public middle schools	41.3%		47.3	411^th of 773 public middle schools	46.8%	46									49.8	55.2					51.2	45.1		64.1	$9,141	$985	$8,156
South Macon Elementary	Public	PK, KG-4	855 Addington Bridge Road	Franklin	28734	Macon County	Macon County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(828) 369-0796	465	34	13.8	99.4%	325 (69.9%)	0 (0.0%)	124 (26.7%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	15 (3.2%)	38.3	939^th of 1492 public elementary schools	37.1%		61.2	543^rd of 1490 public elementary schools	63.6%	396					56.4	52.9					51.3	52.9							$11,730	$1,457	$10,273
Macon Early College High School	Public	9-12	77 Siler Farm Road	Franklin	28734	Macon County	Macon County Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 524-2002	154	2	74.3	98.1%	98 (63.6%)	1 (0.6%)	45 (29.2%)	3 (1.9%)	1 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (3.9%)	79.5	142^nd of 662 public high schools	78.5%		74.6	158^th of 641 public high schools	75.4%	16	73.5	97.1	88.9	76.7															$5,764	$103	$5,661
Bartram Academy	Public	9-12	158 Union School Rd	Franklin	28734	Macon County	Macon County Schools	No	No	No	No	(828) 369-1277	102	3	34.6	91.2%	77 (75.5%)	5 (4.9%)	15 (14.7%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (2.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (2.9%)	1.4	655^th of 662 public high schools	1.1%					(n/a)	7.1	16.7	536.9																$11,469	$453	$11,015
Mountain View Intermediate	Public	5-6	161 Clarks Chapel Road	Franklin	28734	Macon County	Macon County Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(828) 349-1325	614	37	16.5	99.5%	460 (74.9%)	3 (0.5%)	127 (20.7%)	2 (0.3%)	2 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	20 (3.3%)								(n/a)							57.8	46.3					48.5	45.7			59.7		$8,190	$1,131	$7,059
Macon Virtual Academy	Public, Virtual, Alternative	K-12	1202 Old Murphy Rd	Franklin	28734	Macon County	Macon County Schools	No	No	Yes	No	(828) 524-3314	44	0		43.2%	38 (86.4%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (11.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (2.3%)								(n/a)
Trimont Christian Academy	Private, Christian (no specific denomination)	PK, KG-7	98 Promise Ln	Franklin	28734	Macon County		(n/a)	(n/a)	(n/a)	(n/a)	(828) 369-6756	95	9	8.7		75 (78.9%)	3 (3.2%)	1 (1.1%)	1 (1.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)								(n/a)
Macon Multi-Purpose Juvenile Home	Private, Nonsectarian	8-11	1950 Lakeside Dr	Franklin	28734	Macon County		(n/a)	(n/a)	(n/a)	(n/a)	(828) 524-7416	6	1	6.0		4 (66.7%)	1 (16.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (16.7%)								(n/a)

Cities Near Zip Code 28734

City	Distance	# of Schools	Statewide Rank
Franklin	1.01 mi	10	248^th
Cullowhee	12.98 mi	2	403^rd
Sylva	14.17 mi	5	256^th
Bryson City	14.23 mi	7	328^th
Topton	14.73 mi	1

See the top NC North Carolina cities

SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the North Carolina Dept of Public Instruction.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS: Not all boundaries are included. We make every effort to ensure that boundaries are up-to-date. But it's important to note that these are approximations and are for general informational purposes only. To verify legal descriptions of boundaries or school locations, contact your local tax assessor's office and/or school district.