Best Public Schools in Phillips, WI

Phillips, Wisconsin is a small city whose three public schools — Phillips Elementary (PK–5), Phillips Middle (6–8), and Phillips High (9–12) — together enroll about 650 students, and no alternative school is listed in the area. All three belong to the Phillips School District, which is ranked 338 of 432 in Wisconsin, at the 22nd percentile with 1 star. Resources look favorable: free/reduced lunch rates run only 0.99% to 2.08%, per-student spending is $15,803–$17,486, and student-teacher ratios are 10.1–11.7. District chronic absenteeism is 23.1%, above the state's 17.3%.

Comparing the schools, Phillips Middle is the clearest bright spot, rising from 451 of 641 (30th percentile, 1 star) in 2023–24 to 351 of 643 (45th percentile, 2 stars) in 2025–26, with 7th-grade math at 61.7% vs. 55.67% state, 8th-grade math at 58.33% vs. 53.67%, and 6th-grade ELA at 63.83% vs. 54.95%; its chronic absenteeism is 13.3%. Phillips High posts the best completion results — a 98.1% graduation rate vs. 92.0% state and a 0.0% dropout rate vs. 1.1% — but its test scores fell sharply, from above state in all four tested areas in 2024–25 to below state in all four in 2025–26, and its rank dropped from 112 of 431 (74th percentile, 4 stars) to 355 of 533 (33rd percentile, 2 stars). Its absenteeism is 42.3%, the highest locally. Phillips Elementary has the lowest absenteeism at 8.9% and strengths in 5th-grade ELA (62.16% vs. 53.63%) and 4th-grade Social Studies (78.05% vs. 65.51%), but weak 4th-grade Science (36.59% vs. 53.46%) and a rank slipping from 50th to 34th percentile.

Overall, absenteeism climbs steeply by school level — 8.9% elementary, 13.3% middle, 42.3% high school, which is about 2.4 times the state rate. Across all listed tests, the middle school improved by +2.62 points year over year, the elementary dipped slightly at −0.67 points, and the high school fell by 16.89 points. The district's low rating masks real differences: one improving middle school, an elementary with clear subject-level strengths and gaps, and a high school with excellent completion outcomes but a dramatic recent score decline.