Summary:
The city of Johnsonville, South Carolina, is served by the Florence 05 school district, which includes three schools—Johnsonville Elementary (PK-5), Johnsonville Middle (6-8), and Johnsonville High (9-12)—serving a combined 1,143 students in a small, close-knit community.
For parents, the standout school is Johnsonville Middle, the only 3-star school in the district. It excels in math acceleration, with 100% of its 8th graders passing the Algebra 1 EOCEP exam, far exceeding state averages. It also showed strong year-over-year gains in 6th-grade ELA and 8th-grade math. However, it struggles with the district's highest chronic absenteeism rate at 31.8%. Johnsonville High earns a 2-star rating but posts a strong 88.8% graduation rate and a very low 1.2% dropout rate, both better than state averages. Its Algebra 1 and English 2 scores are solid, though English 1 and U.S. History lag. Johnsonville Elementary shows volatile test scores, with dramatic swings between grade levels—4th-grade proficiency dropped sharply in both ELA and math, while 3rd-grade scores improved significantly.
District-wide, chronic absenteeism is a hidden crisis, with all three schools exceeding the state's 22.3% rate. The middle school receives the highest per-student funding ($16,670) yet faces the biggest attendance challenge, while the elementary school spends the least ($12,975). Despite these issues, the district benefits from favorable student-to-teacher ratios (12.2:1 to 15.3:1) and a clear strength in the Algebra pipeline from middle to high school. Parents should note that while rankings are modest, the high school's graduation outcomes and the middle school's math acceleration are genuine bright spots worth considering.
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