Summary:
ZIP code 54514 covers Butternut, Wisconsin, a small community served by two public schools in the Butternut School District: Butternut Elementary, which serves grades PK–5 with 84 students, and Butternut High, which serves grades 6–12 with 92 students. Total enrollment is 176, and there is no separate middle school, so middle-school grades are housed at the high school. Both schools serve similar populations—about 51–52% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch—and both spend close to $20,000 per student with very low student–teacher ratios near 7.8–7.9.
Butternut Elementary is the stronger performer. Its chronic absenteeism rate of 6.9% is far below the district's 12.4% and the state's 17.3%. In 2025–26 English Language Arts, every tested grade (3rd, 4th, and 5th) scored above the state average, and in 2024–25 its 4th graders reached 100% proficiency in both ELA and Social Studies. Its latest rank was 456th of 1,039 elementary schools—the 56th percentile, 3 stars. Math is more mixed, with 3rd-grade math dropping from 78.57% to 37.5% and 5th-grade math below state in both years.
Butternut High is the main concern. Its latest rank was 459th of 533 high schools—14th percentile, 1 star—down from 82nd percentile and 4 stars two years earlier. In 2025–26, ACT Math and ACT Science were both 0% proficient, ACT ELA was 20%, and Forward Math averaged about 36.3% versus about 54.3% statewide. Positives remain: graduation is 91.6%, dropout 1.2%, and 10th-grade Social Studies improved to 50%, above the state's 48.25%. Because cohorts are tiny, year-to-year swings should be read cautiously.
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