Leon

The Leon County school district in Florida serves 50 schools, including elementary, middle, high, and alternative schools, and is ranked 39th out of 70 districts in the state with an overall 2-star rating. The district's standout schools are Lawton Chiles High School and Hawks Rise Elementary School, which achieve top-tier test scores and graduation rates with very low poverty levels, while schools like Success Academy at Ghazvini Learning Center and Fort Braden School face significant challenges with high poverty and chronic absenteeism.

Key metrics reveal a district average graduation rate of 87.9% (below the state's 92.2%) and a chronic absenteeism rate of 36.8% (above the state's 31.4%). The top-performing middle schools, Deerlake Middle School and William J. Montford III Middle School, boast near-perfect advanced course proficiency and low absenteeism, while R. Frank Nims Middle School struggles with a 62.1% absenteeism rate and single-digit proficiency in math. Per-student spending varies dramatically, from $7,845 at Lincoln High School to $51,460 at Gretchen Everhart School, a specialized school.

Interesting findings include the "Rickards Paradox" at James Rickards High School, which achieves high proficiency in US History (92%) and Biology (81%) despite a low overall rank and high absenteeism. SAIL High School stands out as a high-performing alternative school with a 97.8% graduation rate and a 4-star rating, demonstrating that non-traditional models can succeed. The data strongly shows that schools with higher poverty rates tend to have lower test scores and higher absenteeism, though increased funding for high-poverty schools like Woodville School ($14,215 per student) does not always translate to improved performance, highlighting the importance of how resources are used.