Best Public Schools in Lexington, SC

The city of Lexington, South Carolina, is served by 22 schools—13 elementary, 5 middle, 3 high, and 1 charter—enrolling roughly 20,000 students, with the vast majority belonging to the highly rated Lexington 01 district (81st percentile statewide) and one charter school under the Charter Institute at Erskine.

For parents, the standout news is that this area’s elementary and middle schools are among the best in South Carolina. Lake Murray Elementary leads the pack with a 96th percentile ranking and exceptional proficiency rates (91% in 3rd grade ELA), while New Providence Elementary follows at the 95th percentile. At the middle school level, Lakeside Middle (94th percentile) and Beechwood Middle (93rd percentile) are standouts, with all five middle schools achieving near-perfect Algebra 1 EOCEP scores. High schools are solid but more varied: Lexington High (89th percentile) and River Bluff High (86th percentile) boast graduation rates above 92%, while White Knoll High lags at the 43rd percentile with an 81.5% graduation rate and a troubling 38.5% chronic absenteeism rate.

The most important caveat for parents is the Algebra 1 paradox: middle schoolers score near-perfectly on the exam, but high school Algebra 1 proficiency plummets to just 37% district-wide—far below the state average. Chronic absenteeism is another concern, averaging 22.7% district-wide, though top schools like Lake Murray Elementary (7.0%) show it can be managed. Notably, American Leadership Academy South Carolina-Lexington Campu achieves the highest graduation rate (98.1%) at the lowest per-student cost, while spending does not predict performance—Saxe Gotha Elementary spends the most but ranks only in the 51st percentile. Finally, Carolina Springs Elementary is a rising star, jumping from the 54th to 81st percentile in one year.