Summary:
Jesup, Georgia, is served by a single public high school, Wayne County High School, which educates students in grades 9 through 12 and enrolls approximately 1,576 students in the Wayne County district.
As the only high school in the city, Wayne County High School presents a mixed picture for parents. The school has seen a notable decline in its state ranking, falling from 116th in 2023–2024 to 190th in 2025–2026, which aligns with broad year-over-year drops in test scores. Most concerning is Algebra I proficiency, which fell from 29.5% to 22.1% over the past year, leaving the school 26 points below the state average. However, the school shows clear strengths in other subjects: it outperforms the state in United States History (46.7% vs. 38.5%) and matches the state average in Biology (47.8% vs. 47.2%). On non-academic measures, the school shines with a graduation rate of 89.6%—above the state average of 87.2%—and an exceptionally low dropout rate of 0.8%, just one-third of the state figure.
Parents should weigh these academic challenges against the school’s strong retention outcomes. Chronic absenteeism is a significant concern at 26.3%, well above the state average of 17.7%, and the school serves a predominantly low-income population, with 82.11% of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. With per-student spending of $11,588 and a student-teacher ratio of 16.3:1, resources are moderate. The school’s performance in Biology and History exactly matches district averages, confirming it drives those results for Wayne County, but it trails the district in Algebra I (22.1% vs. 32.4%). Overall, Wayne County High School excels at keeping students on track to graduate, but the declining math scores and rising absenteeism suggest targeted interventions are needed to reverse the downward academic trend.
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