Summary:
Zip code 32058 is home to a single elementary school, Lawtey Elementary School, which serves grades PK through 6 with 257 students in the Bradford County district, a small, rural community setting.
Lawtey Elementary School shows a puzzling mix of strengths and weaknesses. The school’s state ranking has been volatile, dropping from a 4-star rating in 2024-2025 to a 2-star rating in 2025-2026. The most striking finding is the exceptional performance of its 6th graders, who achieved a 97% math proficiency rate in 2025-2026, far exceeding both the district (66%) and state (60%). However, this success is not consistent across grades; 3rd-grade math proficiency was only 26% in the same year, creating a 71-percentage-point gap within the same school. Similarly, 5th-grade science scores plummeted from 69% proficiency in 2024-2025 to 33% in 2025-2026. This extreme year-over-year volatility suggests the school is highly sensitive to changes in student cohorts or teaching staff, rather than having stable, school-wide performance.
A major concern is the high chronic absenteeism rate of 37.5%, which is above the state average of 31.4% and likely contributes to the poor early-grade performance. The school serves a moderately economically disadvantaged population, with 55.25% of students eligible for free or reduced lunch, and has a student-teacher ratio of 18.5:1. While Lawtey Elementary often outperforms its district in specific subjects, the Bradford district itself is ranked in the bottom 17% of Florida districts. The school’s overall downward trajectory and drastic score fluctuations warrant a closer look at recent changes in staffing, curriculum, or student demographics.
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