Summary:
ZIP code 45880 is served by a single public school — Payne Elementary School, a K–6 building with 263 students that is part of the Wayne Trace Local district in Ohio — meaning families in this area have one elementary campus and no middle school, high school, or alternative school inside the ZIP. The school reports 13.8 students per teacher and a free/reduced-price lunch rate of 61.98%, a strong indicator of economic need, with roughly 38 students per grade level.
Payne Elementary's standout strength is that it outperforms Ohio as a whole despite that high need, beating the state average in 16 of 18 grade-and-subject test comparisons across two years. Third grade math is the clearest example: 91.9% proficient in 2024‑25 versus 64.4% statewide, a 27.5-point gap, and still 80.6% versus 62.1% in 2025‑26. Third grade ELA and fourth grade math and ELA also ran well above state. At the same time, the school trails its own district in 15 of 18 comparisons, and its district posts stronger overall results — 74th percentile and 4 stars versus the school's 65th percentile and 3 stars — so its "weakness" is relative to an unusually high local bar rather than to Ohio.
Two things are worth watching. Achievement is consistently stronger in grades 3–4 than in grades 5–6, a pattern that repeats in both years, and only two results fell below state: 5th grade math (50.0%) and 6th grade ELA (54.5%). The school's state ranking has also slipped steadily, from the 71st percentile and 4 stars in 2023‑24 to the 68th and then 65th percentiles with 3 stars, even as absolute proficiency stayed above state. Chronic absenteeism runs 11.0% versus the district's 9.9%. Per-student spending of $11,644 dates to 2018‑19, so treat it as historical context rather than a current figure.
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