High Schools in Lexington 02

Lexington 02 is home to two public high schools—Airport High and Brookland-Cayce High—both serving grades 9 through 12 in the Lexington area of South Carolina, with enrollments of roughly 1,270 and 1,210 students respectively.

When comparing the two schools, Airport High is the stronger performer overall. It ranks higher in the state (157th vs. 171st), has a better graduation rate (78.8% vs. 71.9%), and a lower dropout rate (4.2% vs. 5.8%). Interestingly, Airport High achieves these results despite having a larger student-teacher ratio (17.4 vs. 12.2) and spending only slightly more per student ($14,078 vs. $13,658). This suggests that factors like school culture and resource use may matter more than class size alone. Both schools struggle in math and history, with Algebra 1 proficiency at 40% (Airport) and 31.4% (Brookland-Cayce), far below the state average of 64.6%. However, both schools exceed the state average on the English 1 exam, though they fall below on English 2—a pattern that may point to a strong 9th-grade English foundation that doesn’t carry into 10th grade.

The most pressing issue for both schools is chronic absenteeism, which sits above 30% at each school—well above the state average of 22.3%. This likely contributes to lower test scores and graduation rates. While both schools face similar attendance challenges, Airport High has shown a positive trend in its state ranking over the past three years, while Brookland-Cayce High has declined. For parents, this means Airport High may be implementing more effective strategies worth investigating, while Brookland-Cayce offers a more favorable student-teacher ratio but has not yet translated that into better outcomes. Addressing absenteeism appears to be the single most impactful step for improving both schools.