Best Public Schools in Zip Code 33351

Zip code 33351 in Sunrise/Lauderhill, Florida, is home to eight schools within the Broward County Public School District, serving students from elementary through high school with a notable mix of traditional public, charter, and specialized institutions.

The standout school in the area is Franklin Academy Sunrise, a K-8 charter school that consistently outperforms all other local schools across nearly every academic metric, earning a 4-star rating for three consecutive years. In stark contrast, Banyan Elementary School is the lowest-performing school, with a 1-star rating and proficiency rates often 20-30 points below district averages. Piper High School presents a mixed profile, boasting an exceptional 99.8% graduation rate but struggling with academic proficiency on end-of-course exams, where scores in Algebra 1 (45%) and Geometry (44%) fall well below district averages. Sandpiper Elementary School spends the most per student at $16,010 yet holds a 2-star rating, while Franklin Academy spends the least ($9,404) and achieves the best results, highlighting that higher spending does not guarantee success. Westpine Middle School is a low-performing school with a 2-star rating, and Arc Broward Inc. is a small specialized high school serving 69 students with a very high chronic absenteeism rate of 50%.

Chronic absenteeism is a critical issue, with Piper High School (49.1%) and Arc Broward (50.0%) having rates nearly 20 percentage points above the state average, while Franklin Academy Sunrise (20.4%) and Discovery Elementary School (21.4%) have the lowest rates. The data reveals a strong correlation between socioeconomic factors and performance, as the three schools with the highest free/reduced lunch rates—Banyan Elementary (55.04%), Sandpiper Elementary (42.16%), and Piper High (41.21%)—are also the lowest-performing, while Franklin Academy, with a remarkably low rate of 5.77%, is the top performer. Welleby Elementary School rounds out the elementary options, performing near district averages. Overall, families in this zip code face a clear divide between the high-achieving charter school and the struggling traditional public schools, with significant challenges around poverty and absenteeism driving outcomes.