Summary:
The Sauk Prairie School District in Wisconsin includes four elementary schools serving students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade: Bridges Elementary (PK–2), Grand Avenue Elementary (3–5), Tower Rock Elementary (PK–5), and Merrimac Community (PK–5). The district as a whole ranks 197th of 432 districts statewide, at the 54th percentile with 3 stars, and its chronic absenteeism rate of 14.9% is below the state's 17.3%.
School-level results vary widely. Merrimac Community is the academic standout, with a simple test average of about 74.1% and a rank history that reached the 95th percentile and 5 stars in 2024–2025 before settling at the 72nd percentile and 4 stars in 2025–2026 — despite having the smallest enrollment (134) and the highest student-teacher ratio (14.1). Grand Avenue Elementary is the steady performer, holding the 57th–61st percentile and 3 stars across all three years, with a test average of about 59.1%, the lowest free/reduced lunch rate (23.23%), and the lowest per-student spending ($14,205). Tower Rock Elementary faces the greatest challenges: its rank fell from the 53rd percentile in 2023–2024 to the 26th percentile and 1 star in 2025–2026, with the lowest test average (~45.6%), highest absenteeism (16.0%), and highest per-student spending ($16,582). Bridges Elementary, the largest school at 458 students, has the strongest attendance (6.4% chronic absenteeism) but serves grades below the tested level.
For parents, the key takeaway is that this mid-ranked district contains highly uneven schools. Merrimac Community performs well above district and state averages in every subject, Grand Avenue Elementary is reliably above average while spending the least, Bridges Elementary excels at attendance, and Tower Rock Elementary is declining despite having the most resources per student. Smaller schools also show larger year-to-year swings, since a few students can shift percentages dramatically.
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