Summary:
There are four elementary schools serving grades PK-5 (with one K-8 school) in the 34609 zip code of Spring Hill, Florida, all part of the Hernando County School District, which is ranked 46th out of 70 districts in the state.
The standout school in this area is Challenger K-8 School Of Science And Math, which earns a 5-star rating and ranks in the 93rd percentile statewide. It significantly outperforms the other three schools in nearly every academic metric, with 5th-grade math proficiency at 80% compared to the state average of 62%, and science proficiency at 85% versus the state's 60%. In contrast, John D. Floyd Elementary School is the lowest-performing school, with a 1-star rating and 5th-grade math proficiency of just 37%. Suncoast Elementary School (4-star) and Spring Hill Elementary School (2-star) fall in the middle, with Suncoast showing improvement from the 51st to the 74th percentile over recent years.
A key takeaway is that higher spending does not guarantee better results; John D. Floyd has the highest per-student spending ($11,848) but the lowest performance. Chronic absenteeism is a major challenge at the three lower-performing schools, with rates between 32% and 37%, all above the state average of 31.4%. Meanwhile, Challenger K-8's absenteeism rate is just 14.3%, highlighting a strong link between attendance and achievement. As a K-8 school, Challenger also offers advanced coursework like Algebra 1 and Geometry, where it achieves over 97% proficiency, providing a distinct educational pathway not available at the other PK-5 schools.
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