Summary:
In zip code 32462, there is a single elementary school, Vernon Elementary School, serving grades PK through 5 in the Washington County school district, an area with a high poverty rate where 65.54% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch.
Vernon Elementary School has a total enrollment of 621 students and a student-teacher ratio of 15.5:1. The school spends $11,244 per student, which is a significant investment, but academic outcomes are mixed. The school's strongest performance is in 3rd grade, where students outperform the state average in Math (73% vs. 66%) and match it in English Language Arts (62% vs. 60%). However, there is a sharp decline in proficiency as students move to 4th and 5th grades, particularly in Science, where only 30% of 5th graders are proficient compared to 60% statewide. The school's state ranking has fluctuated in the lower third of Florida elementary schools, sitting at the 32nd percentile for the 2025-2026 school year.
A critical concern is the school's chronic absenteeism rate of 47.8%, which is significantly higher than the district average of 41.8% and the state average of 31.4%. This high rate, combined with the school's high poverty level, likely contributes to the declining academic performance in upper grades. While the school shows early promise, the data suggests that addressing absenteeism and improving instruction in upper elementary grades, especially in Science, are the most important areas for improvement. The school's relatively high per-student spending is not translating into above-average results, indicating that non-academic factors are playing a major role in student outcomes.
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