Best Public Schools in Cimarron, NM

Cimarron, New Mexico is a small rural community served by three public schools — Cimarron Elementary (PK–4), Cimarron Middle (5–8), and Cimarron High (9–12) — all within Cimarron Municipal Schools, together enrolling about 170 students. Every school reports 100% free/reduced lunch, and student-teacher ratios are low, ranging from 7.8 to 8.9.

Cimarron Middle is the strongest performer of the three. It earned two recent 5-star ratings and ranked in the top 8–10% of ranked New Mexico middle schools, and its reported proficiency often far exceeds state averages — in 2024–2025, science was 75% versus the state's 35.14%, and math was 54.76% versus 26.81%. Cimarron High has a steady 4-star profile and 11th-grade results well above state in ELA and science; in 2025–2026, 11th-grade science was 63.16% versus 34.27% statewide. Its math scores are suppressed, though, so math performance there is unknown. Cimarron Elementary is the most mixed: it reached the 95th percentile with 5 stars in 2021–2022, but its most recent reported all-grade ELA proficiency, 33.33%, is below both the district and state.

Two cautions matter for parents. First, many math and some other values are marked with a dash, meaning the state suppressed them to protect student privacy; those are unknown, not zero. Second, small cohorts make percentages swing easily. Notably, Cimarron High's reported scores sit above state but below district figures, while Cimarron Middle is above district in ELA and math but below district science in 2025–2026.