LAFAYETTE HIGH

Located at 412 HIGHLAND AVE, in ST JOSEPH, Missouri, LAFAYETTE HIGH is a mid-tier 9-12 campus that works with 644 students (grades 9 through 12), run under ST. JOSEPH. By comparison, Missouri's public schools average about 501 students each, so LAFAYETTE HIGH sits 29% bigger than that benchmark.

Within ST. JOSEPH, which oversees 22 schools and 10,430 students, LAFAYETTE HIGH is one campus in the system.

On demographics, LAFAYETTE HIGH lists that the largest single group is White, at 64% of enrollment. Other groups include 13% multiracial, 11% Hispanic, 9% Black, 2% Pacific Islander. That is meaningfully less White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 81%.

In terms of school funding signals, On paper, LAFAYETTE HIGH has 53 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 12.2:1. That tracks the state average closely. Around 100% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. By comparison, Buchanan County runs at roughly 69%, so the school's eligibility rate is somewhat above the surrounding baseline.

With demographic context factored in, LAFAYETTE HIGH performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 49.4%, the actual is 35.1%, a residual of -14.3 points.

In the area at large, the surrounding county (Buchanan County) shows that the typical household earns roughly $62,158 per year, about 24% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and the poverty rate sits near 10%. LAFAYETTE HIGH is one of 36 public schools in Buchanan County (combined enrollment of about 11,825 students).

The closest other public school is LINDBERGH ELEM., roughly 0.5 miles away. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), LAFAYETTE HIGH ranks 9th on composite proficiency, beneath the local average of 54.2%.

Geographically, the school is in a city-core area.

Over the past 7-year window. LAFAYETTE HIGH's enrollment has fell 16% since 2018, when it stood at 768 (now 644). White enrollment moved from 75% to 64% across the same window. Class-load math has narrowed: from 13.6:1 in 2018 to 12.2:1 in 2025.

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