The 10 Worst School Districts in Idaho

When WalletHub released its most recent “Most & Least Educated States in America,” Idaho ranked lower than we would’ve liked to see. 

The finance website looked at 18 different metrics including the quality of school systems and universities, graduation rates, the level of education adults 25 or older have achieved and achievement gaps between genders and races.  Overall Idaho ranked #36 on the list of “Most & Educated States in America.” We ranked #32 for quality of education and #34 for Educational Attainment. 

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While Idaho does have some absolutely amazing schools offering kids a quality education and opportunities in sports, arts programs and clubs, to end up that low on the list, there are some school systems coming up short. Which ones? We dug into a few different sources to find out. 

First, we looked at the most recent four year graduation rate report available from the Idaho Department of Education. It reflects the graduation rates for the 2021-2022 school year. We looked at which school districts had the lowest graduation rates. (Charter schools were not included in our rankings.) 

Next, we looked at what grade they received on Niche, a website that allows students and residents to grade their schools and neighborhoods. They factor those reviews into the grade, along with other factors like standardized testing scores, student to teacher ratios, student diversity and the school system’s finances. Niche considers the quality of a school system’s teachers, clubs, activities, sports, food and college prep opportunities. 

This is how the numbers shook out.