Summary:
The Milnor 2 school district in North Dakota contains two high schools serving grades 9-12, Milnor High School and Sundale Colony High School, with a combined enrollment of just 90 students in a rural setting.
Milnor High School is the larger school with 77 students and serves as the district's academic anchor, though its performance shows significant volatility. It boasts a perfect 100% graduation rate, well above the state average of 84.2%, yet only 20% of its students are proficient in math, reading, and science—far below state averages of 38-41%. This creates a paradox where students graduate but may lack grade-level mastery. The school spends a high $20,497 per student and has a low student-teacher ratio of 4.6:1, but its ranking has collapsed dramatically from a 3-star, top-50% school in 2022-2023 to a 0-star, bottom-13% school in 2024-2025. In contrast, Sundale Colony High School is a very small school with only 13 students and no reported test scores, graduation rate, or ranking history—data is suppressed to protect student privacy. It has a much higher rate of economic disadvantage, with 76.92% of students receiving free or reduced lunch compared to 22.08% at Milnor, yet it spends only $9,993 per student, less than half of Milnor's spending.
The most striking finding is the resource disparity between the two schools, with the more disadvantaged school receiving far less funding per student. Additionally, Milnor's rapid ranking decline from a top-half school to near the bottom in just two years warrants investigation into what changed in the 2024-2025 school year. Sundale Colony remains an "invisible school" academically, making it impossible to assess its educational effectiveness despite concerning poverty and spending metrics. Parents should note that while Milnor excels at graduating students, the low proficiency scores suggest academic rigor may need attention, and the district faces significant equity challenges between its two schools.
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