Summary:
Sun City Center, Florida, is served by a single public elementary school, Belmont Elementary School, which educates 776 students from Pre-Kindergarten through 5th grade as part of the Hillsborough County school district.
As the only school in the area, Belmont Elementary shows a mixed performance profile. The school has a student-teacher ratio of 13.8:1 and spends $12,173 per student, which is above the state average, yet its academic results are below state averages. In the 2025-2026 school year, the school's average proficiency across all subjects and grades was 47.1%, compared to the district's 57.7% and the state's 62.0%. A notable bright spot is 4th Grade English Language Arts, where 61% of students were proficient, exceeding the state average of 60%. However, 5th Grade Science proficiency was just 32%, a 28-point gap from the state average of 60%. The school's statewide ranking has been volatile, dropping from the 32nd percentile in 2024-2025 to the 21st percentile in 2025-2026, and its chronic absenteeism rate of 31.9% is slightly above the state average.
A key takeaway is the sharp performance decline between early and upper elementary grades. While 3rd and 4th graders perform relatively close to district and state averages, 5th graders experience a significant drop-off, particularly in Math (36% proficient) and Science (32% proficient). This pattern, combined with the school's higher-than-average spending not translating into higher test scores, suggests a need to investigate how resources are used in upper elementary grades. The 5th graders in the 2025-2026 school year were in Kindergarten during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which may have contributed to their learning gaps, especially in Math and Science.
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