Summary:
Zip code 36032 is home to just one elementary school, Fort Deposit Elementary School, which serves grades PK through 5 and enrolls 186 students in the Lowndes County district.
Fort Deposit Elementary is a school on the rise, showing dramatic improvement over the past two years. The school jumped from the 9th percentile in state rankings (0 stars) in 2023-2024 to the 37th percentile (2 stars) in 2025-2026—a gain of 189 positions. This turnaround is especially notable given that 87.1% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, making it a high-poverty school that now outperforms its district in nearly every subject and grade level. The most striking gains came in 4th grade, where math proficiency soared from 8% to 40.74% and science proficiency jumped from 4% to 46.43% in a single year. English is the school's strongest subject, with 3rd grade hitting 58.06% proficiency, close to the state average of 64.75%.
However, challenges remain. The most concerning issue is 5th grade math, where only 4.35% of students are proficient—far below the state average of 39.06%. This creates a troubling pattern where math scores decline sharply as students advance (53% in 3rd grade, 41% in 4th, 4% in 5th), suggesting cumulative learning gaps. On the positive side, the school boasts an exceptionally low chronic absenteeism rate of just 2.3%, compared to 19% for the district and 12% statewide—a remarkable achievement for a high-poverty school that points to strong family engagement. With a student-to-teacher ratio of 15.5:1 and per-student spending of $11,888, the school has solid resources. While newer cohorts are clearly improving, the school must address the older students' learning loss to sustain its upward trajectory and become a true model for high-poverty schools in Alabama.
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