Forest Lane Community School, Montello WI

Original Research by School Decision on Forest Lane Community School

Forest Lane Community School, part of the Montello School District, serves students from pre-kindergarten through sixth grade in Montello, Wisconsin, a small rural city and the county seat of Marquette County. The school was formed in 2020 through the consolidation of Montello Elementary School and Sacred Heart School, bringing the district's elementary education into a single building. This is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet school.

Academically, Forest Lane Community School shows a clear pattern. In math, student proficiency rates rise steadily across tested grades, from a moderately strong level in third grade to a notably strong level in fifth and sixth grades. One grade, fourth, posts a lower result that sits well below the others, a divergence a parent may want to discuss with the school. In English language arts, the picture is more varied. Third and sixth grades show solidly strong proficiency, fifth grade sits in a moderate middle, and fourth grade again falls noticeably lower. Science and social studies are assessed only in fourth grade, where the science proficiency rate is considerably weaker than the social studies rate. The school's overall proficiency across all tested subjects and grades, when compared with other districts in Marquette County, places it in the top quartile, a strong showing relative to a small local peer set. The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report. Data on chronic absenteeism was not available.

The student body is predominantly White, with small shares of Hispanic, two-or-more-races, Black, Asian, and American Indian or Alaska Native students. More than two-fifths of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a substantial share of families with lower incomes. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not provided. The school participates in Wisconsin's Forward assessment, and participation rates across all tests were very high, often at or near full participation.

Montello itself is a small town centered on a compact downtown Commercial Historic District, with the Fox River and nearby lakes providing recreation. The only traffic light in the county sits at the downtown highway junction. The town's population has declined slightly in recent decades, and the historical granite quarrying industry has ceased, with the former quarry now a park. Housing values in the area are moderately below the state median but have seen recent growth. No major new housing developments were apparent from available information. The cost of living is below the national average.

The Montello School District has a direct financial story for families to weigh. Voters have repeatedly approved operational referendums, most recently in 2024, allowing the district to exceed state revenue limits and maintain current programming and staffing. This is a sustained property-tax commitment. At the same time, voters rejected three separate capital bond referendums in 2022 that would have funded facility upgrades including safety improvements, HVAC, roofing, a new gymnasium, an agriculture and tech education wing, and ADA and fire safety improvements. Those facility needs remain unaddressed. The district has publicly reported these referendum outcomes, and a parent considering the school should be aware of that gap between operational funding and capital investment.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 377%

School 77% · District 77%

▲ 21 pts above state median

Grade 447%

School 47% · District 46% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 7 pts below state median

Grade 571%

School 71% · District 71%

▲ 20 pts above state median

Grade 674%

School 74% · District 74%

▲ 21 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 365%

School 65% · District 65%

▲ 12 pts above state median

Grade 440%

School 40% · District 39% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 13 pts below state median

Grade 558%

School 58% · District 58%

▲ 7 pts above state median

Grade 674%

School 74% · District 74%

▲ 21 pts above state median

Science

Grade 442%

School 42% · District 41% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 9 pts below state median

Social studies

Grade 458%

School 58% · District 56% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 7 pts below state median

This schoolMontello School District, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income50%Higher-income80%30 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income36%Higher-income42%6 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income57%Higher-income58%1 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income75%Higher-income74%1 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income63%Higher-income93%31 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income29%Higher-income58%30 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income64%Higher-income75%11 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income63%Higher-income84%22 pp gap