Original Research by School Decision on Lake Success Elementary School
Lake Success Elementary School is a public alternative school in Eustis, Florida, serving grades one through five and operating under the Lake County Schools district. Its enrollment is extraordinarily small, with only a handful of students spread across those five grade levels. That scale alone defines much of what a parent needs to understand about this school.
Because of that very small enrollment, Florida's state assessment results for FAST Math, FAST ELA, and the statewide science assessment are suppressed across all tested grades. This is standard practice when group sizes fall below reporting thresholds, designed to protect student privacy. The suppression is not a signal of weak performance; it simply reflects that the student population is too small to report publicly. There is no academic performance data available to characterize here, and no multi-year trend data exists in the record either.
The school's classification as an alternative school is the key fact a parent should sit with. Alternative schools in Florida typically serve students whose needs, circumstances, or learning situations differ from those addressed in a conventional school setting. Lake County Schools publicly reported that its school safety millage, renewed by voters in 2022, has funded an alternative education academy alongside mental health staff, school safety officers, and nurses. Whether Lake Success is that specific program or a separate alternative setting, the data does not confirm, and a parent would want to ask the district directly about the school's particular purpose, its referral or enrollment process, and the support services it provides.
Income and free-and-reduced-price lunch data were not reported, and IEP and English learner rates are similarly absent from the record. Demographic data indicates a racially diverse student body for its size, with students identifying as Hispanic, Black, and multiracial.
The school sits in Eustis, a small waterfront city on the eastern shore of Lake Eustis, part of the broader Orlando metro area. The downtown historic district has boutique shops, a bandshell at Ferran Park that hosts community events, and improved pedestrian access from a streetscape project. Outside that compact core, the city is largely car-dependent. Healthcare and education are major employment anchors, with AdventHealth Waterman a significant local employer, alongside Lake County Schools itself. The city is growing steadily, and a large redevelopment project on the former downtown hospital site, expected to bring housing, retail, and community amenities, is planned for completion by 2029.
Housing near the school, based on zip-level data, sits modestly below the Florida statewide median and has dipped slightly year over year, while rents have edged upward. The estimated monthly mortgage cost represents a meaningful share of the national median household income, and rent-to-income ratios run close to the threshold many financial planners flag. For families considering the area, the housing market is accessible relative to the state but not inexpensive in an absolute sense.
At the district level, Lake County commissioners have placed a property tax measure on the November 2026 ballot that would add to the existing school safety millage to fund teacher pay and recruitment. If voters approve it, families would see a change in their tax bill beginning in 2027. The district has also been opening new schools to address growth in southern parts of the county, with attendance boundaries adjusted as recently as fall 2025.
Because Lake Success Elementary is an alternative school with an enrollment of only a few students, it sits outside the typical framework parents use to evaluate elementary schools. Proficiency comparisons relative to other Lake County districts are not applicable here, and a graduation rate does not apply given the grade band. A parent considering this school should contact Lake County Schools to understand the specific population it serves and whether it fits their child's situation.
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