Ellis Middle

Ellis Middle is one of the moderately sized junior highs in AUSTIN, Minnesota, one of the schools within Austin Public School District, with 726 students on its rolls from grades 7 through 8. By comparison, Minnesota's public schools average about 495 students each, so Ellis Middle sits 47% bigger than that benchmark.

Across the 12 schools in Austin Public School District (5,385 students total), Ellis Middle accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

Demographically, Ellis Middle reports that the largest single group is White at 39%, but no single group is in the majority. The remainder breaks down as 30% Hispanic, 15% Asian, 9% Black, 4% multiracial. The wider county runs roughly 75% White, putting the school's mix visibly less White than the area baseline.

In terms of school funding signals, Ellis Middle records 49 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 14.8:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 17.5:1 average. Roughly 58% of students at Ellis Middle qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Ellis Middle performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 33.8%, the actual is 23.2%, a residual of -10.6 points.

In the broader community, ACS estimates for Mower County put median household earnings sit near $73,074, about 24% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 7%. In all, Mower County runs 34 public schools (combined enrollment of about 7,434 students), of which Ellis Middle is one.

The closest other public school is I.J. Holton Intermediate School, roughly 0.1 miles away. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Ellis Middle at 4th of 4; the average score across the group is 29.8%.

The campus sits in a town-center setting.

Over the past 7-year window. Ellis Middle's enrollment has rose 8% since 2018, when it stood at 672 (now 726). White enrollment moved from 55% to 39% across the same window. Class-load math has narrowed: from 22.9:1 in 2018 to 14.8:1 in 2025.

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