Best Public Schools in Zip Code 34613

The four public schools in zip code 34613, Brooksville, Florida, serve students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade within the Hernando school district, a 2-star district ranked 46th in the state. The schools include Pine Grove Elementary School (PK-5), West Hernando Middle School (6-8), Central High School (9-12), and Endeavor Academy, an alternative school for grades 4-12. The area faces significant economic challenges, with high rates of free and reduced lunch eligibility across all schools, ranging from 46.68% at Central High School to 75.4% at Endeavor Academy.

West Hernando Middle School is the academic standout, consistently earning a 3-star rating and outperforming state averages in math and science, including 78% proficiency in Algebra 1 and 85% in 8th-grade math. In contrast, Central High School excels in graduation rates at 95%, despite lower test scores. Endeavor Academy presents a paradox: it spends the most per student ($31,620) and has the smallest class sizes (7.8:1), yet has the lowest test scores, a 0% graduation rate, and an 88.6% chronic absenteeism rate, indicating it serves a high-need population where current interventions are not yielding academic success. Pine Grove Elementary School is a bright spot, exceeding state averages in 3rd-grade math (70%) and 5th-grade ELA (62%) despite high absenteeism.

The most critical issue across the zip code is chronic absenteeism, with all four schools far exceeding the state average of 31.4%, ranging from 44.5% at Pine Grove to 88.6% at Endeavor Academy. This likely drives low test scores, especially at the middle and high school levels. Another key finding is the math performance drop: West Hernando Middle School achieves 78% Algebra 1 proficiency, but that rate plummets to 27% at Central High School, possibly due to different testing populations or instructional quality. Overall, while West Hernando Middle School leads academically and Central High School ensures graduation, the entire area struggles with attendance and economic disadvantage, with Endeavor Academy requiring a fundamentally different approach to address its students' severe challenges.