Summary:
Vandalia-Butler City is a five-school Ohio district serving students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade — three elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school — with 2,880 students enrolled. It ranks 346 of 773 statewide, or 55th percentile with 3 stars, and its enrollment splits fairly evenly between elementary (46%) and secondary (54%) students. Current state test data is available for three of the five schools: Butler High School, Morton Middle School, and Smith Intermediate School. Demmitt Elementary School serves K–2 and Helke Early Learning Center serves PK–K, so neither has current test scores in this data set; both have older rating histories from 2010–2013.
Each school has a distinct academic profile. Smith Intermediate School is the strongest elementary, with 5th grade math at 77.3% proficient versus 59.1% statewide, ELA at 80.5% versus 70.4%, and science at 73.2% versus 62.7%. Butler High School is strong in humanities and science — Biology 85.1% versus 67.0% state, English II 81.2% versus 62.7%, and American History 87.7% versus 73.2% — and graduates 97.7% of its students. Morton Middle School excels in advanced math, with Algebra I at 84.8% versus 61.6% state and Geometry at 75.6% versus 43.3%. Butler and Smith both sit at the 61st percentile in 2025–2026 rankings.
Weaknesses cluster in math and attendance. Morton Middle School pairs strong advanced math with very low grade-level math — 8th grade math is 18.2% versus 52.0% state, and 7th grade math is 34.5% versus 48.6% — and its rank slipped to the 49th percentile with 2 stars in 2025–2026. Butler High School trails the state in Geometry (33.5% vs 43.3%) and Algebra I (46.2% vs 61.6%), and has the district's highest chronic absenteeism at 21.2%. Demmitt Elementary School has the lowest absenteeism at 9.0% and the highest free/reduced lunch rate at 45.84%, while Helke Early Learning Center has the highest student-teacher ratio at 20.6.
Thank you for your feedback!