Summary:
The five schools in zip code 32117, serving Daytona Beach and Holly Hill, Florida, from Pre-K through 12th grade within the Volusia school district, present a landscape of stark contrasts, where one school dramatically outperforms its peers despite serving a similarly challenged population.
David C. Hinson Senior Middle School is the clear standout, ranking in the 46th percentile statewide and earning a 3-star rating, while every other school in the zip code ranks in the bottom 22nd percentile or lower. Hinson achieves near-perfect proficiency in advanced math (100% in Geometry, 89% in Algebra 1) and is the only school with a chronic absenteeism rate (29.7%) below the state average. In stark contrast, Richard Milburn Academy is in a state of crisis, with a 93.6% chronic absenteeism rate, a 35:1 student-teacher ratio, and single-digit proficiency rates in core subjects like Algebra 1 (4%) and 10th-grade ELA (7%). The two elementary schools, Holly Hill Elementary and Westside Elementary School, both have high poverty rates (over 82%) and chronic absenteeism near 47%, ranking in the bottom 4th and 22nd percentiles respectively. Halifax Behavioral Services, an alternative school with only 9 students, spends $38,904 per student—over four times the amount spent at Richard Milburn Academy—reflecting the intensive behavioral support it provides.
The most critical takeaway is the inverse relationship between need and resources: the school with the highest challenges, Richard Milburn Academy, receives the lowest per-student funding ($8,718) and has the largest class sizes, while the elementary schools with high poverty receive more funding and lower ratios. This suggests that while Hinson Middle School proves that strong leadership and culture can overcome socioeconomic barriers, the high school in this zip code is severely under-resourced and requires immediate, intensive intervention to address its crisis-level absenteeism and academic performance.
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