Summary:
There are three elementary schools serving grades PK-6 in zip code 36507 (Bay Minette, AL), all part of the Baldwin County district, which collectively enroll 1,491 students and show dramatically different performance profiles despite sharing the same district leadership.
Delta Elementary School is the clear standout, having jumped from the 42nd to 66th percentile in just two years. It outperforms both the district and state averages in nearly every subject, with 5th-grade English proficiency at 86.21%—17 points above the state average. Delta also has the lowest poverty rate (47.81% free/reduced lunch) and the lowest chronic absenteeism (10.4%), while spending the most per student at $14,716. In contrast, Bay Minette Elementary School, the largest school with 814 students, has slipped to the 28th percentile and shows a math crisis—5th-grade math proficiency is just 13.79%, nearly 30 points below the district average. Pine Grove Elementary School ranks lowest at the 21st percentile, serves the highest proportion of economically disadvantaged students (74.39% free/reduced lunch), and spends the least per student ($11,611).
Across all three schools, math proficiency lags significantly behind English, with the gap widening in upper grades—5th grade is the weakest point everywhere. The spending-performance relationship is not straightforward: Bay Minette spends $900 more per student than Pine Grove yet performs nearly as poorly in math. Chronic absenteeism also tells a nuanced story—Bay Minette has the highest rate (14.3%) despite having less poverty than Pine Grove, whose absenteeism (11.2%) is lower. Delta's remarkable turnaround suggests targeted interventions can work, but the wide intra-district spread indicates school-level factors matter as much as district policies. For families, Delta is clearly the strongest option, while Bay Minette and Pine Grove represent significant opportunities for improvement.
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