The top reported proficiency rate is 89% in Science. The lowest is 79% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Anna Maria Elementary School
Anna Maria Elementary School sits at the Gulf Drive address in Holmes Beach, the most commercially active of the three cities strung along Anna Maria Island's barrier shore. It is the only public school on the island, serving prekindergarten through fifth grade, which means a child who attends here spends all of elementary school in one place before crossing to the mainland for middle school at Martha B. King and eventually Manatee High.
The school is small even by the standards of a PK-5 campus. The student body is predominantly white, with smaller shares of Hispanic students and students who identify as two or more races. About a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which is a meaningfully lower economic-need share than many Florida elementary schools carry. Data on students with IEPs and English learners was not available in what we reviewed.
Academic results reported on Florida's FAST assessments for the most recent school year are strong across most grades and subjects. In reading and language arts, third through fifth graders showed solid proficiency, with third grade performing especially well. In math, performance was notably high in third and fifth grade, while fourth grade came in somewhat lower, a pattern a parent may want to ask the school about. Fifth-grade science results were also strong. A small sixth-grade math cohort reported in the state data came in at full proficiency, though that is a very small group. Trend data across years was not available, so whether these results reflect a consistent pattern or recent movement is not something this review can say. There is no graduation rate because this school does not serve high school grades.
The comparison framework available covers Manatee County districts, but because there is only one district in the county, cross-district comparisons do not apply here in any meaningful way. We looked for chronic absenteeism data but it was not provided.
The community context shapes the school in ways worth naming plainly. Holmes Beach is a barrier-island city built around tourism, beach cottages, canal homes, and a deliberately low-rise character. Property values here run dramatically higher than both the Florida and national midpoints, and they have softened somewhat over the past year. Rental data was not available. The housing market, combined with the island's geography and the share of vacation and short-term rental units, means the permanent, year-round family population is a subset of overall island residents. Publicly reported information describes the school's campus as sitting on the bay side of the island, and the school draws from Anna Maria Island and, per publicly reported sources, North Longboat Key.
The city is also mid-recovery from the 2024 hurricane season. Dozens of homes were demolished or rebuilt following Helene and Milton, and new construction is ongoing with an emphasis on elevated, storm-hardened building. Streets near the school may still reflect active rebuilding work, and the longer-term character of the neighborhood is in flux as properties turn over and new homes replace older ones.
At the Manatee County school district level, voters renewed a one-mill property tax referendum in late 2024 that funds teacher salary supplements, additional daily instructional time, STEM and arts programs, athletics, early literacy, and school safety. That funding flows to schools across the district, including Anna Maria Elementary. The district has also recently remapped elementary and middle school attendance zones in response to fast enrollment growth, so families new to the area should verify current zone assignments directly with the district. High school zones are not expected to change until a new high school opens in eastern Manatee County in 2027. AI-assisted weapon detection systems are installed at the district's high schools and randomly at middle schools; Anna Maria Elementary is a PK-5 campus and that measure does not apply here.
For a family weighing this school, the picture is a small, academically performing elementary on a beach island with a high cost of entry, an active rebuilding phase underway in the surrounding community, and a natural transition off the island for middle school.
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