Summary:
Zip code 28458 is home to exactly two public schools: Rose Hill-Magnolia Elementary, which serves Pre-K through 8th grade with 1,118 students under Duplin County Schools, and Union High, which serves 9th through 12th grade with 494 students under Sampson County Schools. Combined enrollment is 1,612 students, and because these two schools sit in different districts, their rankings, funding, and accountability contexts are not directly comparable.
Rose Hill-Magnolia Elementary is the more academically challenged of the two. Its average EOG proficiency is about 30%, versus roughly 42% for its district and 59% statewide, and its state ranking has landed in the bottom 6% for three straight years, including a 2nd-percentile finish in the latest year. Weak spots are particularly severe in 5th grade, where just 13.4% of students read proficiently, 17.6% are proficient in math, and 22.0% pass science, compared with state averages of 55.3%, 62.9%, and 67.7%. A notable exception is 7th grade math at 44.1%, which beats the district average of 40.8%. Union High, by contrast, improved in all four EOC subjects last year: Biology rose to 37.5%, English II to 46.5%, Math I to 26.4%, and Math III to 56.5%. Yet its 41.7% average proficiency still trails the state's 58.5%. Its 88.5% graduation rate, however, nearly matches the state's 88.8%.
Both schools face near-universal poverty, with free and reduced lunch rates exceeding 99%, and chronic absenteeism is a concern at each: 20.9% at Rose Hill-Magnolia Elementary and 26.8% at Union High, the latter above both district and state levels. Per-student spending figures from 2018-19 show Union High at $10,781 versus $8,559 at Rose Hill-Magnolia Elementary, though that data is dated and influenced by school size and grade span. Overall, Rose Hill-Magnolia ranks among the lowest schools in North Carolina but shows one strong 7th grade math result, while Union High posts solid graduation numbers and positive year-over-year test momentum, even as substantial proficiency gaps remain.
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