Best Public Schools in Homestead, FL

The city of Homestead, Florida, is home to 44 schools within the Miami-Dade school district, serving students from elementary through high school, and presents a sharply divided educational landscape where a handful of high-performing magnet and charter schools dramatically outperform a larger group of struggling traditional public schools.

The standout schools in Homestead are dominated by the Somerset Academy charter network and specialized magnet programs. The highest-ranked high schools include School For Advanced Studies Homestead, Center For International Education A Cambridge Associate School, and Medical Academy For Science And Technology (M.A.S.T.) @ Hom, all boasting graduation rates above 98% and state rankings in the top 7%. Among elementary and K-8 schools, Somerset Academy Silver Palms At Princeton and Air Base K-8 Center For International Education lead with exceptional test scores and chronic absenteeism rates below 10%. In stark contrast, Chambers High School is in a critical state with a 31.8% graduation rate and 98.7% chronic absenteeism, while Coconut Palm K-8 Academy and Gateway Environmental K-8 Learning Center rank in the bottom 7% of all Florida elementary schools.

Key metrics reveal that chronic absenteeism is the strongest predictor of performance, with top schools having rates under 13% and struggling schools exceeding 35%. The average free/reduced lunch rate across the city is 63%, but top performers like Air Base K-8 (33.42%) serve far fewer economically disadvantaged students than schools like Somerset Oaks Academy (86.46%). Per-student spending varies widely from $7,760 to $17,569, but high spending does not guarantee success—Goulds Elementary School spends $17,569 per student yet ranks in the 16th percentile. The data shows that the K-8 model yields mixed results, and the Somerset network demonstrates a replicable but not universally successful model, creating a significant equity challenge for the district.