The top reported proficiency rate is 72% in Math. The lowest is 44% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on James Tillman Elementary Magnet School
James Tillman Elementary Magnet School sits on the east side of Palmetto, a small waterfront city on the north bank of the Manatee River just above Bradenton. The school serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grade within the Manatee County school district, and the "magnet" designation in its name signals an intent to draw families across attendance-zone lines, though program details were not available in the data provided. A parent wanting to know the specific magnet theme or any selective enrollment criteria would want to contact the school directly.
The student body is meaningfully diverse. Hispanic students make up the largest share of enrollment, followed by Black students, with White students a smaller though present group, and smaller numbers of Asian and multiracial students. A large majority of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, placing this squarely in a high-poverty-share context. Data on English learners and students with IEPs were not reported, so the scale of those support programs is not visible from this data.
On the Florida FAST assessments, math results are the clearer strength. In grades three through five, majorities of students tested at the proficient level, with fourth grade reaching the highest point among the tested grades. Those are genuinely solid numbers for an elementary school serving a high-need population, and a parent can take some confidence in them. ELA results are a different picture. Proficiency in reading and writing falls to roughly half of students in the lower grades and drops further by fifth grade, ending below the halfway mark. Fifth-grade science results land at a similar level. These are areas where the school is below the state midpoint, and a parent who wants to understand what targeted literacy support looks like at this school would be well served by asking the principal directly.
Trend data was not available because the assessment system changed and prior-year comparisons cannot be made cleanly. The sixth-grade math figure was suppressed, which is a state privacy rule applied when group sizes are small; this school's grade band runs through fifth grade, so that suppression likely reflects a handful of students in an edge-grade situation rather than a curricular concern.
The comparison analysis against Manatee County's other districts could not be run in a meaningful way because there is only one district in this county for comparison purposes, so no relative position can be stated.
The housing market around the school tells a practical story. Home values in this zip code are running modestly below both the state and national medians, and values have softened over the past year. Rents have also dipped slightly. The monthly mortgage cost relative to typical income is a stretch by national standards, though the rent-versus-buy math is close enough that renting is only marginally cheaper than owning at current rates. Palmetto itself is in a period of active growth, publicly reported, with a large master-planned waterfront community adding homes near the Manatee River and new condominiums going up citywide. Infrastructure investment, including sewer upgrades and a planned Riverwalk, is underway. Families considering the area should know that the school district has already redrawn elementary attendance zones in response to enrollment growth, meaning a home's assigned school could shift. High school zones are not yet redrawn, with that process tied to a new high school set to open in Lakewood Ranch in 2027.
Manatee County voters renewed a one-mill property tax levy in late 2024, publicly reported, which funds teacher salary supplements, extended instructional time each day, STEM and career-technical programs, athletics, early literacy work, and school safety. That referendum outcome is relevant to Tillman because it protects program budgets and safety staffing districtwide. The district has also installed AI-based weapon-detection systems at its high schools and selectively at middle schools, a security posture families tend to want to know about as they think ahead.
For a family with young children drawn to Palmetto's affordable-relative-to-the-region housing, its waterfront access, and a downtown that is quietly rebuilding its commercial identity, Tillman offers strong math results and a diverse peer group. The ELA and science gaps are real and worth a conversation with the school about what additional reading support looks like in practice.
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