Summary:
ZIP code 45817 covers Bluffton, Ohio, and has three public schools serving grades K–12 in the Bluffton Exempted Village district: Bluffton Elementary School (K–5, 534 students), Bluffton Middle School (6–8, 294 students), and Bluffton High School (9–12, 420 students), for 1,248 students total. The district ranks 49th of 773 Ohio districts — the 94th percentile — with 5 stars, and every school scores above the state average in every reported subject.
Elementary and middle are the anchors. Bluffton Elementary ranked 43rd of 1,560 Ohio elementary schools in 2025–26 (97th percentile, 5 stars), up from 107th the year before; its proficiency ranges from 86.3% to 96.3%, and its chronic absenteeism is the lowest here at 4.2% versus the district's 6.7%. Bluffton Middle ranked 43rd of 1,046 middle schools (96th percentile, 5 stars), improving from 98th in 2023–24. Its Algebra I End-of-Course result of 100% proficient is the highest single metric in the data, well above the 61.6% state figure, and its proficiency spans 77.9% to 100%. Its reported free/reduced-lunch rate of 80.27%, against the high school's 12.38%, is a large gap worth verifying.
Bluffton High is solid but less dominant: 135th of 795 high schools (83rd percentile, 4 stars), down from 98th in 2024–25. Proficiency ranges from 67.7% (Geometry, down from 78.3%) to 88.6%, and the graduation rate is 95.9%. The clearest pattern is absenteeism: the high school's 11.3% is far above the district's 6.7% and roughly 2.7 times the elementary rate, and it tracks inversely with rank.
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