Enterprise Charter High School

Enterprise Charter High School in Clearwater, FL, serves 387 students in grades 9-12 and is part of the Pinellas district, a 4-star district ranking in the 79th percentile statewide. However, the school itself is a 1-star school, ranking in the bottom 11th percentile of all Florida high schools, with a majority of its students (57-61%) economically disadvantaged.

The most alarming metric is chronic absenteeism: in the 2023-2024 school year, a staggering 94.9% of Enterprise students were chronically absent, nearly three times higher than the next closest school (Pinellas Teleschool at 71.2%) and more than double the rate of the highest traditional high school (Clearwater High School at 45.2%). This crisis directly explains the school's extremely low academic proficiency: 10th-grade ELA scores are at 12% proficient, Algebra 1 at 0% proficient, and US History at 39% proficient—all far below district averages. The graduation rate is 56.5%, a staggering 36.9 percentage points below the district average of 93.4% and 35.7 points below the state average of 92.2%. In contrast, nearby schools like Countryside High School and Dunedin High School boast graduation rates above 97%.

Enterprise functions as a de facto alternative school for a highly disengaged student population, but without the specialized support it needs. Its student-teacher ratio is 38.7:1, nearly double that of most nearby traditional high schools (which average around 21:1), meaning teachers cannot provide the individual attention needed to re-engage students. The school spends $9,860 per student, comparable to successful schools like Largo High School ($8,831) and Palm Harbor University High ($9,594), yet achieves far worse outcomes. Without a radical intervention focused on attendance and reducing class sizes, the school is unlikely to see meaningful improvement.