HORIZON MIDDLE SCHOOL

HORIZON MIDDLE SCHOOL operates as a well-populated middle-grades school in KEARNEY, Nebraska, one of the schools within KEARNEY PUBLIC SCHOOLS. Current enrollment sits at 648 students spanning grades 6 through 8. Enrollment runs roughly 58% bigger than the state mean of about 411.

Across the 15 schools in KEARNEY PUBLIC SCHOOLS (6,066 students total), HORIZON MIDDLE SCHOOL accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

On the student-mix side, HORIZON MIDDLE SCHOOL shows that White students make up the majority at 79%. The remainder reads as 16% Hispanic, 2% multiracial.

On the resource side, Staff filings list 43 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 15.0:1 students per teacher. That tracks the state average closely. An estimated 29% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), HORIZON MIDDLE SCHOOL performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 66.2%, the actual is 62.3%, a residual of -3.9 points.

In the broader community, census data for Buffalo County shows the typical household earns roughly $75,911 per year, 34% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 5%. Across Buffalo County's 28 public schools (combined enrollment of about 8,449 students), HORIZON MIDDLE SCHOOL is one campus in the mix.

HANNY ARRAM CENTER is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.4 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around HORIZON MIDDLE SCHOOL. Among the 6 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), HORIZON MIDDLE SCHOOL ranks 3rd on composite proficiency, behind the local average of 64.9%.

Geographically, the school is in a small-town area.

Looking at the recent track record. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at HORIZON MIDDLE SCHOOL has rose 6%, going from 613 students in 2018 to 648 in 2025.

Inside the community feed, members of the HORIZON MIDDLE SCHOOL community share and discuss enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. The community welcomes input from current and former families.