The top reported proficiency rate is 69% in English language arts. The lowest is 62% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Otis-bison Elementary
Otis-Bison Elementary serves students from prekindergarten through fifth grade in a small, consolidated public school district in rural central Kansas. The school sits in the town of Otis, a very small community that has been steadily losing population over the past several census cycles. The district itself, Otis-Bison USD 403, was formed through the merger of the former Otis and Bison schools, and it now operates a handful of buildings serving the broader rural area. The helium extraction plant operated by the Linde Group near Otis is a major local employer, but the town otherwise has a quiet, rural character with minimal street life and no identified public transit. Housing values here are well below national and state benchmarks, and the median rent is low enough that the area is affordable by any standard measure, though the declining local economy is a reality families will want to weigh.
Enrollment at Otis-Bison Elementary is small, with a student body that is overwhelmingly white. Slightly less than half of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that while poverty is present in the community, it is not the dominant economic circumstance for most families. The school covers all elementary grades in a single building; there is no preschool through fifth grade feeder that would take a student elsewhere mid-elementary. The school is not a charter or magnet, and there is no information available about Title I status.
On state assessments, Otis-Bison Elementary posted academic results that are among the strongest in Rush County. The school’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades placed it in the top quartile relative to other districts in the county. In third-grade math, a clear majority of students scored at or above the proficient level. Third-grade English language arts proficiency was also strong, with a similar share meeting the benchmark. Fifth-grade science results, from the prior school year, showed roughly three in five students reaching proficiency. These are solid numbers, particularly for a small rural school serving a population that includes notable shares of low-income families. Readers should note that Kansas changed its test cut scores in recent years, so direct comparisons to earlier years are not reliable from the data available here.
The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report. Data on chronic absenteeism, discipline, staffing ratios, and course access are all absent from the profile. Families interested in those dimensions of school life would need to ask the district directly. Similarly, no information was available on the share of students receiving special education services or English learner support, though given the enrollment composition those populations may be small.
Otis-Bison Elementary is a low-key, academically solid elementary school in a community that is shrinking but retains a stable, rural identity. The building itself sits on land donated by the town’s founder, and local history notes the original Otis grade school structure still stands, though it is unclear whether that is the current campus. Under Kansas’s new open enrollment law, the district has adopted a formal policy for accepting nonresident students, meaning families outside district boundaries may apply for seats if capacity allows. For a family already in the Otis or Bison area, or one seeking an affordable rural setting with competitive elementary test results relative to nearby districts, this school is a straightforward option. The missing pieces around special programs, staffing, and discipline are gaps a prospective parent would want to fill with a call to the school office, but the academic picture available here is a positive one.
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