Baker High School’s graduation rate surpassed the Oregon average last year and was nearly identical to the previous year.

Of the 110 students in the class of 2023, 94 had graduated within four years of starting high school, according to statistics released this week by the Oregon Department of Education.

Baker’s four-year graduation rate of 85.5% exceeded the statewide average of 81.3%.

The latter figure tied the class of 2022 as the second-highest recorded in Oregon.

Baker High School’s four-year graduation rate in 2022 was 85.6%.

The rate for the class of 2021 was 82.8%. The statewide average that year was 80.6%.

Baker’s graduation rate was even higher in 2020 — 92.4% — but that figure wasn’t precisely comparable to other years due to the effects of the pandemic, which resulted in online classes for the entire spring 2020 semester. The 2020 graduates were allowed to finish with pass/fail rather than letter grades, and they did not have to supply performance work samples.

Greg Mitchell, then the BHS principal, acknowledged that the temporary changes prompted by the pandemic boosted the graduation rate.

The BHS graduation rate for the previous three classes was higher than the last pre-pandemic class, 2019, when the four-year graduation rate was 78.6%.

In other school districts in and near Baker County, the four-year graduation rate for Huntington was 83.3% in 2023 (five of six students graduating). The 2022 rate in Huntington was 100%.

Powder Valley High School had a graduation rate above 95% last year, and 94.1% in 2022.

Pine Eagle High School in Halfway posted a graduation rate of 71.4% in 2023 (five of seven students), and 85% the previous year.