Maniscalco K-8 School, Lutz FL - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Maniscalco K-8 School

Maniscalco K-8 School sits on Debuel Road in Lutz, an unincorporated community north of Tampa where suburban neighborhoods gradually give way to larger parcels and semi-rural land. The school serves prekindergarten through eighth grade within Hillsborough County Public Schools, meaning it carries students through the end of middle school before they transition to a separate high school. No graduation rate applies here, as the school does not serve high school grades.

The academic picture is genuinely strong in several places and softer in others, and the pattern is worth examining by grade band. On Florida's FAST Math assessment, third-grade and sixth-grade performance stand out, with most students reaching proficiency. Fifth and eighth grades also clear a solid majority. The one softer math result is in fourth grade, where proficiency falls meaningfully compared to the other tested grades; a parent may want to ask the school what supports are in place at that level. In English Language Arts, the sixth-grade result is the standout, with a very high share of students proficient, and seventh grade is also solid. Third and fifth grade ELA are the points where fewer than two in three students reached proficiency, which is worth noting even though the results are not alarming. Science proficiency at both fifth and eighth grade lands around two-thirds of students, a moderate level. No multi-year trend data was available, so it is not possible to say whether these numbers are improving or holding steady.

Close to half of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting a genuinely mixed economic profile for the school. The student body is diverse: Hispanic students make up the largest group, white students the second largest, with meaningful Black, multiracial, and smaller Asian populations represented as well. IEP and English learner figures were not reported in the data available, so parents of students with disabilities or who are learning English should ask the school directly about those programs and supports.

The surrounding community shapes the experience here. Lutz is car-dependent and spread out; getting to school, activities, and services means driving. Publicly reported sources describe the area as a long-running growth zone within the Tampa Bay metro, with national homebuilders active and new residential communities continuing to open. Home values in this zip code are meaningfully above the Florida state median and have edged slightly downward year over year, while rents have followed a similar modest downward trend. Carrying costs are real: the price-to-income ratio sits above four, and a standard mortgage payment on a typical local home is a substantial monthly commitment. Families renting are spending roughly three in ten dollars of income on housing at the median, which is a tight but not unusual figure for the Tampa Bay region.

At the district level, Hillsborough County voters approved a one-mill property tax levy in late 2024, publicly reported to run from mid-2025 through mid-2029 and to add a meaningful annual cost for homeowners. The stated purpose is raising teacher and support staff pay, which the district has described as addressing chronic staffing shortages. Separately, a major boundary rezoning took effect for the 2024-2025 school year, shifting a large number of students across the county to different schools. Families new to the area should confirm their address falls within Maniscalco's current attendance zone, since boundaries in Hillsborough have been actively redrawn.

Comparison data against other districts in Hillsborough County was limited by the fact that the county has essentially one district in the dataset, so no meaningful county-level positioning could be computed. Program details beyond the standard academic program were not available in the data provided.

Maniscalco is a mid-sized K-8 school with a demographically mixed student population, strong math performance at certain grade levels and ELA performance that runs more variably across grades. It offers the convenience of a single campus through eighth grade, which eliminates one school transition. Families weighing this school should probe the fourth-grade and lower-elementary ELA results with the school directly, and should factor the active growth and rezoning context of Hillsborough County into any long-range planning.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 381%

School 81% · District 58% · ▲ 23 pts above district

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 27 pts above county median

Grade 469%

School 69% · District 59% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 15 pts above county median

Grade 574%

School 74% · District 54% · ▲ 20 pts above district

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 25 pts above county median

Grade 692%

School 92% · District 54% · ▲ 38 pts above district

▲ 30 pts above state median · ▲ 40 pts above county median

Grade 877%

School 77% · District 58% · ▲ 19 pts above district

▲ 26 pts above state median · ▲ 24 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 362%

School 62% · District 53% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Grade 473%

School 73% · District 53% · ▲ 20 pts above district

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 25 pts above county median

Grade 563%

School 63% · District 53% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

Grade 688%

School 88% · District 55% · ▲ 33 pts above district

▲ 28 pts above state median · ▲ 35 pts above county median

Grade 775%

School 75% · District 55% · ▲ 20 pts above district

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

Grade 867%

School 67% · District 52% · ▲ 15 pts above district

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

Science

Grade 565%

School 65% · District 50% · ▲ 15 pts above district

▲ 12 pts above state median · ▲ 23 pts above county median

Grade 866%

School 66% · District 48% · ▲ 18 pts above district

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

This schoolHILLSBOROUGH, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income54%Higher-income69%15 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income57%Higher-income85%28 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income57%Higher-income69%12 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income87%Higher-income88%1 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income81%Higher-income70%11 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income64%Higher-income69%5 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income74%Higher-income88%14 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income64%Higher-income74%9 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income64%Higher-income86%22 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income91%Higher-income93%2 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income68%Higher-income85%18 pp gap