Summary:
The 10 public schools in Dade City, Florida, all part of the Pasco district, serve a diverse range of students from elementary through high school, but the city is marked by a stark educational divide between one standout school and several struggling institutions.
The clear leader is Academy At The Farm, which ranks in the 80th percentile statewide (4 stars) and is the only school in the city where proficiency rates consistently exceed district and state averages. In contrast, every other school ranks in the 36th percentile or lower. The most challenged school is East Pasco Education Academy, which ranks in the 3rd percentile (0 stars) with critically low test scores (e.g., 3% proficient in Algebra 1) and a 58.9% chronic absenteeism rate. Pasco Elementary School also struggles, ranking in the 15th percentile (1 star) with a 64.32% free/reduced lunch rate and test scores well below averages. On a positive note, Pasco High School boasts a strong 96.7% graduation rate, above the state average, despite its below-average test scores.
Chronic absenteeism is a city-wide crisis, averaging 38.1% across all schools—well above the state average of 31.4%—with only Academy At The Farm (14.9%) below that threshold. A specific challenge emerges at the middle school level: both Pasco Middle School and Centennial Middle School show a dramatic drop in 7th-grade math proficiency (24% and 15%, respectively, vs. the state average of 53%). Per-student spending varies wildly, from $9,353 at Pasco Middle School to $63,837 at East Pasco Education Academy, yet higher spending does not guarantee better outcomes. A small bright spot is Centennial Elementary School, which shows a slight upward trend in its state ranking, moving from the 30th to the 36th percentile.
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