Summary:
Lake Butler, Florida, is home to a single middle school, Lake Butler Middle School, which serves grades 5 through 8 with an enrollment of 752 students and is the sole middle school in the Union County School District, a district ranked 27th out of 70 in Florida with a 3-star rating.
This school presents a fascinating mix of strengths and challenges. It is a standout in advanced math, with 93% of students proficient in Algebra 1, far exceeding the state average of 63%, and it also excels in 7th-grade math (66% proficient vs. 53% statewide). However, there is a stark contrast in 8th-grade math, where only 31% of students are proficient compared to the state's 61%—a 30-point gap. The school also shows inconsistent year-over-year performance; for example, 8th-grade science proficiency jumped from 46% to 56% between recent school years, while 5th-grade science dropped from 48% to 41%. Overall, the school's state ranking has declined from the 53rd percentile (3 stars) to a projected 38th percentile (2 stars).
A critical concern is chronic absenteeism, which sits at 36.4%, higher than both the district (32.9%) and state (31.4%) averages, and this likely contributes to below-average English Language Arts (ELA) proficiency across all grades—for instance, 7th-grade ELA is 45% vs. the state's 62%. With 46.68% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, the school spends $10,265 per student and maintains a 15.4:1 student-to-teacher ratio. Because it is the only middle school in the district, its performance directly defines the district's middle school standing, making its successes and struggles particularly impactful for the entire community.
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