Rcma Wimauma Community Academy, Wimauma FL

Original Research by School Decision on Rcma Wimauma Community Academy

RCMA Wimauma Community Academy is a charter school sitting on U.S. Highway 301 in Wimauma, a historically agricultural community in the southern stretch of Hillsborough County. It serves kindergarten through eighth grade, making it one of the few local options that keeps a child from their first day of school through middle school without a building change. The enrollment is small relative to most K-8 schools in the region, and the student body is nearly entirely Hispanic, with nearly every enrolled student qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. For families in Wimauma's farmworker and working-class community, that demographic reality reflects the neighborhood itself rather than any selective admission posture.

The school is sponsored under the Redlands Christian Migrant Association, an organization publicly reported to have a long history serving agricultural and migrant families across Florida. That mission context matters when reading the school's numbers.

On Florida's FAST assessments, the math picture is genuinely strong across most grades. Third through sixth grade math proficiency rates land in the upper two-thirds range, and seventh grade is not far behind. Eighth grade math data was suppressed, likely due to small group size. For a school serving a population where most students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch and many may be English learners, those math outcomes are worth noting. The English learner rate is not reported in the available data, which is a gap a parent should ask the school about directly, since it affects how to interpret the ELA results.

ELA proficiency tells a more uneven story. Third and fifth grade rates are well below the school's own math performance at those same grades, and they sit in the lower range by state comparison. Fourth grade is somewhat higher but still below the midpoint. The middle grades show a real shift: sixth and seventh grade ELA proficiency climb into the low-to-mid seventies, and eighth grade holds in the low sixties. Whether the lower elementary ELA results reflect a population with high numbers of students still building English fluency, or a gap in reading instruction, is something a parent may want to explore further with the school. The data does not answer that question on its own.

Science, tested in fifth and eighth grade, follows a similar pattern. Fifth grade is low; eighth grade is stronger but still below where most parents would hope to see it settle.

No multi-year trend data was available, so it is not possible to say whether results are improving or flat.

Wimauma itself is changing fast. Publicly reported sources describe the population as having roughly doubled over recent years, with master-planned subdivisions replacing farmland at a pace that has strained infrastructure and prompted a development moratorium that was only recently lifted. Home values in the area's zip code are running slightly below both the Florida and national medians, and values have dipped modestly year over year, which may make the area more accessible for buyers than other parts of Hillsborough County. Rents have also edged down. A voter-approved school millage that took effect in July 2025 will add a modest property tax burden for homeowners through 2029, with the proceeds going toward teacher and staff pay across the district, including at charter schools under state law.

Because RCMA Wimauma Community Academy is a charter authorized within Hillsborough County, the district's boundary rezoning that shifted assignment for many students does not affect charter enrollment in the same way it would a traditional public school. Families choose to attend; they are not assigned.

IEP and special-education rate data were not reported, which is another gap worth raising with the school for any family whose child has or may develop learning support needs.

The school fits a family rooted in Wimauma's working community who wants their child in a stable, Spanish-heritage-adjacent environment from kindergarten through eighth grade, with math instruction that punches above what demographics alone would predict. The ELA and science gaps, particularly in elementary grades, are real and a parent should ask the school directly what supports exist for building literacy, especially for students still developing English proficiency.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 378%

School 78% · District 58% · ▲ 20 pts above district

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

Grade 473%

School 73% · District 59% · ▲ 14 pts above district

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

Grade 567%

School 67% · District 54% · ▲ 13 pts above district

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

Grade 676%

School 76% · District 54% · ▲ 22 pts above district

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

Grade 768%

School 68% · District 36% · ▲ 32 pts above district

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 31 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 337%

School 37% · District 53% · ▼ 16 pts below district

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 448%

School 48% · District 53% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 6 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 533%

School 33% · District 53% · ▼ 19 pts below district

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 671%

School 71% · District 55% · ▲ 16 pts above district

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

Grade 773%

School 73% · District 55% · ▲ 18 pts above district

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

Grade 862%

School 62% · District 52% · ▲ 10 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 529%

School 29% · District 50% · ▼ 21 pts below district

▼ 24 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

Grade 843%

School 43% · District 48% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▼ 2 pts below 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.