Summary:
Zip code 97487 (Veneta, OR) is home to 2 public schools — Veneta Elementary School, an elementary K–5 school with 340 students, and West Lane Charter School, a grades 9–12 school with 84 students — for a combined enrollment of 424, all within Fern Ridge School District 28J, which is ranked 38th of 141 districts (73rd percentile, 4 stars).
Veneta Elementary School is the stronger performer in the available test data, especially in math: all-grade math proficiency is 39.9% versus 31.6% districtwide and 32.9% statewide, and 4th-grade ELA is 56.3% versus 48.2% district and 43.5% state. Chronic absenteeism is also lower than average at 26.8%, compared with 31.6% district and 33.5% state. Science is the clear weak spot, at 19.4% versus 32.8% district and 30.6% state — in practice a 5th-grade science result. The school's state rank has also slipped, from 70th percentile (3 stars) in 2023–2024 to 50th percentile (2 stars) in 2025–2026. It spends $16,734 per student, with a student-teacher ratio of 18.8.
West Lane Charter School shows the most serious warning signs in the non-test measures. Chronic absenteeism is 81.8%, far above the district's 31.6% and the state's 33.5%, and its graduation rate is 31.9%, well below the district's 70.3% and the state's 83.0%. Free/reduced lunch participation is 76.19%, similar to Veneta's 70.59%, but per-student spending is $9,299 — roughly half of Veneta's — with a higher student-teacher ratio of 21.0. All of its school-level OSAS proficiency values are suppressed (—) for 2025–2026, so its academic performance is unknown, not proven low.
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