The top reported proficiency rate is 66% in Science. The lowest is 49% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Port St. Joe Elementary School
Port St. Joe Elementary serves pre-kindergarten through sixth grade in Port St. Joe, the county seat of Gulf County on Florida's Forgotten Coast. The school sits on its own campus away from the walkable downtown on Reid Avenue, on the edge of a small bayfront community where public-sector employment, fishing, recreational boating, and a growing residential development presence define the local economy. The town reinvented itself after its paper-mill era closed, and is now shaped in part by The St. Joe Company's WindMark Beach development, publicly reported as bringing hundreds of new homes to former mill lands along St. Joseph Bay through a partnership with national builder D.R. Horton. Hurricane Michael caused extensive damage to the area, and the rebuilding and growth that followed remain visible context for anyone arriving in the community today.
The school's enrollment puts it in a typical size range for a K-6 school in a small rural county. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, pointing to a meaningful economic-diversity dimension in the student body. The school is majority white, with Black and multiracial students making up the next largest groups, and smaller Hispanic and Asian populations. Data on English learners and students with IEPs were not available in the reporting.
State assessment results from Florida's FAST exam in the most recent year show a mixed academic picture. Third-grade math proficiency is the strongest result, well above the midpoint. Fifth-grade math and fifth-grade ELA are in a solid range. Fifth-grade science is comparably solid. The more challenging results are in fourth-grade math and fourth-grade ELA, where proficiency rates are lower and sit below the midpoint. Third-grade ELA is also on the lower side. Trend data across prior years was not available, so it is not possible to say from this data whether results are improving, flat, or declining. Parents who want a fuller picture of trajectory would do well to ask the school directly about year-over-year progress and what supports are in place for the grades where proficiency is lower. Because the school does not serve high school grades, graduation rate does not apply here.
No program offerings data was available for this school, so enrichment, electives, or special program information was not possible to assess.
One district-level development is worth noting for any family weighing this school. Gulf County voters in November 2024 considered renewal of a one-mill property tax that has supported district staffing, class sizes, elective programs, arts, school safety, and technology for several years. The district publicly stated that failure to renew it would force layoffs of several dozen employees and increase class sizes. Whether the measure passed was not confirmed in the research, so families should ask the district directly about the current staffing and funding picture, since the answer affects classroom conditions at Port St. Joe Elementary.
On housing, the Port St. Joe zip code carries home values that are notably elevated relative to Florida's statewide benchmark and to the national benchmark, with a year-over-year decline in values. Rents are more modest, with a rent-to-income ratio that is not extreme by national standards. The monthly mortgage on a typical home in the area would require a meaningful income, reflecting the coastal market dynamics of the Forgotten Coast more than a rural-inland profile. The combination of a small county, a growing but not large population, and an ongoing wave of planned coastal development makes the housing picture more complex than the town's scale might initially suggest.
Gulf County has only one district, so a relative comparison among county districts is not meaningful for this school.
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