Richard Milburn Academy

Richard Milburn Academy in Daytona Beach, FL, is a public high school serving 771 students in grades 9-12 within the Volusia County School District, and it faces severe challenges that set it apart dramatically from nearby schools. The most critical issue is a catastrophic chronic absenteeism rate of 93.6% (2023-2024), which is over 20 times higher than the district average of 34.1% and far exceeds even the highest rates at nearby schools like Mainland High School (44.1%) or Seabreeze High School (notably lower). This attendance crisis is likely the primary driver of the school's rock-bottom academic performance, where only 4% of students are proficient in Algebra 1 and 10% in 9th-grade ELA—compared to 69% and 74% at Seabreeze, respectively. Despite these struggles, the school has shown a surprising improvement in its graduation rate, rising from 70.0% to 83.1% over the last four years, though this remains well below the district average of 95.6%.

The school operates with an extremely high student-to-teacher ratio of 55:1 (2023-2024), more than double that of any nearby traditional high school, and spends less per student ($8,718) than peers like Atlantic High School ($10,910) or Spruce Creek High School ($9,288). This funding gap is especially concerning given the high-poverty population (over 70% free/reduced lunch) and the need for intensive interventions. Interestingly, Richard Milburn shares many characteristics with nearby alternative schools like The Chiles Academy and Pace Center for Girls, which also have high absenteeism and poverty rates, but it serves a much larger student body, suggesting it functions as a de facto alternative school for at-risk students who have not succeeded in traditional settings.

A stark comparison can be made with Mainland High School, located just 1.37 miles away and serving a similar high-poverty population (65% free/reduced lunch). Mainland boasts a 95.8% graduation rate, a 44.1% chronic absenteeism rate, and test scores 10-45 percentage points higher in every subject, highlighting that the challenges at Richard Milburn are not solely due to neighborhood demographics. The school's improving graduation rate is a notable bright spot, but it is overshadowed by the fact that the vast majority of students are not meeting basic academic standards, and the school appears under-resourced to address its core issues of attendance and remediation.