Summary:
ZIP code 97720 in rural eastern Oregon is home to two high schools: Burns High School, a comprehensive school serving grades 9–12 with 215 students in Harney County School District 3, and Monroe School, a very small grades 6–12 school with 15 students in the ODE YCEP District. Together they enroll 230 students, and Burns High accounts for roughly 93.5% of that total.
Graduation outcomes look very different on paper. Monroe School posts a 2024–2025 graduation rate of 92.9%, well above the state rate of 83.0% and far above its district rate of 51.1%. However, with only 15 students in grades 6–12, that rate is likely to be volatile, and all of its OSAS test scores are suppressed by the state, so its academic proficiency is unknown rather than low. Burns High School’s 83.3% graduation rate sits essentially at the state average and above its district’s 76.0%. Its science proficiency, 26.1% in both all grades and 11th grade, is a relative bright spot — above district rates and close to the state’s 30.6% in all grades. But ELA proficiency is 10.7% against a state rate of 43.8%, and math is under 5% versus 32.9% statewide.
Other differences stand out. Chronic absenteeism at Burns High School is 47.5%, above both its district (37.7%) and the state (33.5%). Free or reduced lunch eligibility is 80% at Monroe School versus 35.81% at Burns. Burns spends $26,808 per student with a 12.2 student-teacher ratio; Monroe reports a ratio of 15 and no per-student spending figure. Burns’ recent rank history has slipped, from the 45th percentile in 2023–2024 to the 27th and then the 17th, and its district ranks 132 of 141. Any figure marked with a dash is suppressed by the state — unknown, not evidence of weakness.
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