Union

The Union County School District in Florida serves approximately 2,309 students across three public schools—Lake Butler Elementary School, Lake Butler Middle School, and Union County High School—and holds a solid 3-star rating, ranking 27th out of 70 districts in Florida.

Each school has distinct strengths. Lake Butler Elementary School excels at building strong math foundations, with 77% of 3rd graders proficient in math—11 points above the state average—and shows an upward trend in its overall ranking. Lake Butler Middle School is a standout for advanced academics, achieving a remarkable 93% proficiency rate in Algebra 1, which is 30 points higher than the state average. However, its overall state ranking has declined to the 38th percentile, and its 8th-grade math proficiency is just 31%, suggesting a "two-track" system where top students thrive while the general student body struggles. Union County High School shines in US History (85% proficiency) and Biology 1 (74% proficiency), but its graduation rate of 84.7% is well below the state average of 92.2%, and its Algebra 1 proficiency is only 50%—a 43-point drop from the middle school's performance.

Chronic absenteeism is a district-wide challenge, with all three schools exceeding the state average of 31.4%, and the middle school's rate of 36.4% being particularly concerning. Per-student spending varies, with the high school receiving the most ($13,018) but not correlating with higher graduation rates, while the middle school spends the least ($10,265) yet produces top Algebra 1 results. Overall, the district shows strong early education at the elementary level, but students appear to lose ground in middle school, highlighting a critical need for targeted support during these transition years.