Waterset Charter School, Apollo Beach FL

Original Research by School Decision on Waterset Charter School

Waterset Charter School sits inside the Waterset master-planned community in Apollo Beach, a fast-growing waterfront suburb in southern Hillsborough County. The school serves kindergarten through eighth grade, making it a full K-8 pathway for families in the community, and enrollment is substantial for a charter school of this grade band. It operates as a public charter under the Hillsborough district umbrella, which matters for a few practical reasons described below.

Apollo Beach itself is an unincorporated, canal-laced community on Tampa Bay rather than an incorporated city. It has grown at a pace that is rare even by Florida standards, with the Waterset development at the center of that expansion, bringing multiple builders, resort-style amenities, and trails to what was recently open land. Publicly reported information describes the area as car-dependent, with most residents commuting out for work, though the Waterset neighborhood specifically markets walkable internal connections to dining and recreation. There is no traditional downtown; civic anchors like the regional library are technically in neighboring Ruskin. The nearest transit service runs weekdays only. Families choosing this area are choosing a suburban, amenity-rich residential environment that depends heavily on the car.

On academics, Florida's FAST assessment results for the most recent school year show a mixed picture across grades. Third-grade math proficiency lands in a genuinely strong range, and seventh-grade math is the school's highest result across the tested grades. ELA proficiency is more consistent across the middle school grades, with eighth grade performing best. The soft spots are real and worth naming: fifth-grade math proficiency is the weakest result in the data by a clear margin, and fifth-grade ELA falls below half of students scoring proficient. Fifth-grade science proficiency is also below half. The eighth-grade science result is more solid, above the midpoint. Fourth-grade math and eighth-grade math both land in the mid-range. A parent whose child is entering the upper elementary grades, particularly fourth and fifth, may want to ask the school directly about how it identifies and supports students who are not yet at proficiency, because the data shows those grade levels as areas to watch. Trend data was not available, so it is not possible to say whether results have been improving or declining.

A substantial share of the student population qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, which reflects real economic diversity within what is otherwise a newer planned community. The school's racial and ethnic composition spans multiple groups, with white and Hispanic students making up the two largest shares and Black students representing a meaningful portion as well. Data on English learner status and students with IEPs was not available in the dataset, so a parent interested in those support systems should ask the school directly.

Because Waterset is a charter, the Hillsborough district's rezoning that shifted many families to different assigned schools for the 2024-25 school year does not directly change enrollment at this campus in the same way it would at a traditional district school. Charter enrollment typically follows its own application or lottery process. Separately, Hillsborough County voters approved a property tax measure that adds a mill to assessed home values, running through mid-2029, to fund teacher pay supplements. Publicly reported information indicates that charter schools receive a share under state law, so Waterset families are both contributing to that levy as homeowners and may benefit from its staffing effects. Housing values in the Apollo Beach zip code are above the Florida statewide benchmark and well above the national median, and the year-over-year trend has been slightly downward. Rents, by contrast, have moved upward over the same period. The rent-to-income ratio in the area is notably tight by national standards.

No program offerings data was provided for Waterset Charter School, so extracurricular activities, enrichment pathways, and specialized programming could not be described here. A neighbor comparison across Hillsborough County districts was not possible given that only one district covers this area, so no relative positioning on proficiency, graduation, or absenteeism is available from the data. Graduation rate does not apply here because the school does not serve high school grades.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 369%

School 69% · District 58% · ▲ 11 pts above district

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

Grade 456%

School 56% · District 59% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 533%

School 33% · District 54% · ▼ 21 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 16 pts below county median

Grade 657%

School 57% · District 54% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 772%

School 72% · District 36% · ▲ 36 pts above district

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

Grade 847%

School 47% · District 58% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 355%

School 55% · District 53% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 455%

School 55% · District 53% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 549%

School 49% · District 53% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 659%

School 59% · District 55% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 761%

School 61% · District 55% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 863%

School 63% · District 52% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Science

Grade 543%

School 43% · District 50% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Grade 855%

School 55% · District 48% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 10 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-income43%Higher-income64%21 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income41%Higher-income61%21 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income46%Higher-income52%6 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income49%Higher-income64%15 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income46%Higher-income71%25 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income63%Higher-income63%0 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income55%Higher-income79%23 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income50%Higher-income59%9 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income28%Higher-income38%10 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income39%Higher-income65%26 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income61%Higher-income80%20 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income33%Higher-income56%23 pp gap