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Van R. Butler Elementary School

Public Grades K-5
290th
SchoolDigger Rank ?
of 2,240 Florida Elementary Schools
Better than 87% of Florida elementary schools
Summary

Van R. Butler Elementary School in Santa Rosa Beach, FL, serves 914 students in grades K-5 and is part of the highly-ranked Walton County School District. This school stands out for its exceptional mathematics performance, with proficiency rates in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade (86%, 85%, and 87% respectively) significantly exceeding both district and state averages. For example, 5th-grade math proficiency is 14 points higher than the district average and 25 points higher than the state average. The school also benefits from a low student-teacher ratio of 13.8:1 and high per-student spending of $14,263, which is the highest among nearby schools.

While Van R. Butler is a consistently strong school with a 4-star rating from SchoolDigger for the past decade, it faces interesting competition from nearby schools. Dune Lakes Elementary School, also in the Walton district and just 11 miles away, has recently achieved a 5-star rating and outperforms Van R. Butler in nearly every subject area, including 5th-grade science (83% vs. 70%) and 5th-grade ELA (80% vs. 71%). Additionally, Bluewater Elementary School in the Okaloosa district spends 35% less per student ($9,256) yet achieves higher proficiency rates in most subjects and has a much lower chronic absenteeism rate (8.6% vs. 17.7%).

A notable area for improvement at Van R. Butler is its chronic absenteeism rate of 17.7%, which, while better than district (24.3%) and state (31.4%) averages, is higher than several high-performing nearby schools like James E. Plew Elementary School (12.1%) and Lula J. Edge Elementary School (14.2%). The school serves a relatively affluent community, with only 27.68% of students eligible for free or reduced lunch. Overall, Van R. Butler is a well-funded, high-performing school with a clear strength in mathematics, but it could benefit from addressing attendance issues and examining how its higher spending compares to more efficient, top-performing neighbors.

914
Students ?
13.8
Student/teacher ratio ?
$14,263
Per pupil spending ?
27.7%
Free/discounted lunch ?
 6694 W County Highway 30a
       Santa Rosa Beach, FL  32459

(850) 622-5040

District: Walton

Racial breakdown:

White:
67.8%
Hispanic:
20.0%
Two or more races:
4.9%
more
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At a glance
▬ Ranking trend: Holding steady — 84th percentile in 2016 → 87th in 2026
Strengths
✓Test scores above the Florida average (78% vs 62% meeting standards)
✓Ranks in the top 13% of Florida elementary schools
Students meeting standards (2025-2026) ?
This school78%
District avg72%
Florida avg62%
290th of 2,240
Florida public elementary schools ?
Top 13%▲ up 3 pts since 2016
See the entire ranking list of Florida Elementary Schools →
★★★★★
SchoolDigger rating ?
2nd of 6Elementary Schools in the Walton
10th of 70Walton among Florida districts
Statewide rank percentile over time (100 = the top-ranked school in the state; click a legend item to add a student group)
Show full rank history (all student groups)

All Students

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankFlorida percentileRating
202683.9290 of 224087.1%★★★★☆
202586.3257 of 225888.6%★★★★☆
202486.6267 of 225688.2%★★★★☆
202387.4235 of 224089.5%★★★★☆
202282.8346 of 221984.4%★★★★☆
202184.9303 of 224786.5%★★★★☆
201981.1376 of 218282.8%★★★★☆
201884.9290 of 211886.3%★★★★☆
201784.0289 of 211286.3%★★★★☆
201682.4331 of 208784.1%★★★★☆
201480.3358 of 206482.7%★★★★☆
201385.2238 of 202988.3%★★★★☆
201284.8246 of 198487.6%★★★★☆
201183.7260 of 198586.9%★★★★☆
201087.3164 of 191991.5%★★★★★
200989.3113 of 184793.9%★★★★★
200888.7125 of 178993.0%★★★★★
200784.3232 of 178687.0%★★★★☆
200678.6329 of 168880.5%★★★★☆
By subject vs Florida (2025-2026) ?
Math86%+22 vs state
English Language Arts73%+13 vs state
Science70%+10 vs state

1.0
1 rating · 1 written review
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What people are saying
by a parent
Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Open Quote School and staff are great. What is being taught is not so good. Moving from one school system from another state to FL back to VA, I could not believe how far behind our child got in one year. Our son has been a honor roll student since he started school and never fails to bring home great work and even better grades. Now since moving back to VA after one year he is so far behind it is just amazing. His grades are suffering because he is playing catch up. During his 4th grade year I never thought his teacher was pushing him enough so we would always go an extra step at home. But even starting in his 5th grade there, after one month (because we moved) they were still not "doing" anything. The schools here were only in for two weeks when we got here and they were already being pushed to their grade levels and beyond. My complaint is not with the Principal and the office staff, it is with the lack of education in a hall full of nothing but. We always did find it kind of odd that out of 22 students 18 would be honor roll. In any other school, the average of honor roll to not honor roll did not exceed half of a class! I wish education was just as important as making kids feel good about themselves and not about the "honor roll student" stickers on the back of cars. Unfortunately, its all about the $ that the students can bring in with good grades "Look our students are smart!" when actually comparably speaking they are falling behind. Close Quote




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Frequently Asked Questions about Van R. Butler Elementary School

Van R. Butler Elementary School ranks 290th of 2240 Florida elementary schools. SchoolDigger rates this school 4 stars out of 5.

Students at Van R. Butler Elementary School are 68% White, 20% Hispanic, 5% Two or more races, 4% African American, 2% Asian.

In the 2024-25 school year, 914 students attended Van R. Butler Elementary School.

Students who attend Van R. Butler Elementary School usually go on to attend:

Middle : Emerald Coast Middle School
Middle : Freeport Middle School
Middle : Walton Middle School
High : Freeport Senior High School
High : South Walton High School
High : Walton High School


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Latest Florida data All new data »
2025–26 EOC, FAST & Statewide Science test scoresJun 26, 2026
2024–25 school spending dataMar 20, 2026
2024–25 graduation ratesJan 13, 2026
2024–25 EOC, FAST & Statewide Science test scoresJun 26, 2025


SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Florida Department of Education.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS: Not all boundaries are included. We make every effort to ensure that boundaries are up-to-date. But it's important to note that these are approximations and are for general informational purposes only. To verify legal descriptions of boundaries or school locations, contact your local tax assessor's office and/or school district.




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