James Buchanan HS

James Buchanan HS is a middle-of-the-pack senior high in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, part of Tuscarora SD. The school teaches 721 students in grades 9 through 12.

Tuscarora SD runs 6 schools in total, collectively educating 2,182 students. James Buchanan HS is one of those campuses.

Demographically, James Buchanan HS reports that the student body is overwhelmingly White (91%). The remainder looks like 4% multiracial, 3% Hispanic.

On the income-and-resources front, Staff filings list 45 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 16.1:1 students per teacher. That figure is higher than the state norm's 12.8:1 average. Around 98% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. By comparison, Franklin County runs at roughly 69%, so the school's eligibility rate is somewhat above the surrounding baseline.

After controlling for student poverty, James Buchanan HS performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 35.6%, the actual is 47.3%, a residual of +11.7 points.

In the surrounding community, community-level numbers for Franklin County indicate median household income runs about $77,003, 25% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 6%. Across Franklin County's 41 public schools (combined enrollment of about 21,432 students), James Buchanan HS is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is James Buchanan MS, roughly 0.4 miles away. Counting just inside five miles, 4 other public schools cluster around James Buchanan HS. Among the 8 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), James Buchanan HS ranks 6th on composite proficiency, below the local average of 53.1%.

Geographically, the school is in an outlying area.

Over the past 7-year window. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at James Buchanan HS has grew 3%, going from 702 students in 2018 to 721 in 2025.

On allk12, posts here usually surface around fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.