Summary:
In zip code 32064 (Live Oak, FL), there are three elementary schools serving grades PK through 5 within the Suwannee County School District, a district ranked 49th out of 70 in Florida with a 2-star rating, where all schools face high rates of chronic absenteeism and significant economic disadvantage.
Suwannee Springcrest Elementary is the standout school in this area, earning a 3-star rating for three consecutive years and ranking in the 57th percentile statewide—far ahead of its peers. It consistently outperforms the district and often the state in core subjects, despite having a similar percentage of students on free/reduced lunch (64.23%) and a chronic absenteeism rate of 40.1%, which is the lowest among the three schools. In contrast, Suwannee Pineview Elementary is the most challenged, with the lowest state ranking (27th percentile), the highest chronic absenteeism (47.0%), and the highest free/reduced lunch rate (70.21%). Suwannee Riverside Elementary falls in the middle, with a 28th percentile ranking and a 42.9% chronic absenteeism rate.
A key finding is that spending and student-teacher ratios do not correlate with performance: Pineview has the highest spending per student ($10,950) and the lowest ratio (16.0), yet the lowest academic results, while Springcrest achieves the best outcomes with moderate spending ($10,419) and a ratio of 17.1. Additionally, all three schools show a significant drop in 5th grade math proficiency, with declines of 12 to 23 points from 4th grade, suggesting a systemic issue in the district's math curriculum. Chronic absenteeism is a critical problem across the zip code, with rates (40.1% to 47.0%) far exceeding the state average of 31.4%, making it a community-wide challenge that likely impacts academic performance.
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