LaFollette High

As a substantial senior high in Madison, Wisconsin, LaFollette High educates 1,541 students from grades 9 through 12, operated by Madison Metropolitan School District. That puts it 224% above the typical public school in Wisconsin, which averages around 475 students.

Madison Metropolitan School District runs 53 schools in total, collectively educating 25,155 students. LaFollette High is one of those campuses.

On the student-mix side, LaFollette High logs that the most-represented group is Hispanic (34%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups. Other groups include 27% White, 22% Black, 9% multiracial, 6% Asian. By comparison, Dane County as a whole is about 8% Hispanic, so the school skews noticeably more Hispanic than its surroundings.

On the resource side, On paper, LaFollette High has 104 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 14.8:1. The state averages about 14.6:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. An estimated 58% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. By comparison, Dane County runs at roughly 32%, so the school's eligibility rate is higher than the surrounding baseline.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, LaFollette High is in the bottom 10% of Wisconsin public schools. The BeatsExpectations model predicts schools with this FRL share to land around 41.9%; LaFollette High posts 22.1%, -19.7 points below that line.

In the broader community, Dane County reports that the typical household earns roughly $89,975 per year, roughly 55% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 5%. Across Dane County's 169 public schools (combined enrollment of about 78,525 students), LaFollette High is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is Sennett Middle, roughly 0.1 miles away. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around LaFollette High. Among the 8 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), LaFollette High ranks 8th on composite proficiency, beneath the local average of 47.7%.

Geographically, the school is in a high-density area.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count held roughly steady: 1,560 students in 2018 compared to 1,541 in 2025. White enrollment moved from 39% to 27% across the same window.

In the discussion threads here, posts here usually surface around fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.