Manatee Charter School, Bradenton FL

Original Research by School Decision on Manatee Charter School

Manatee Charter School sits on the east side of Bradenton, serving students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. As a charter school operating within the Manatee County district, it draws from the broader Bradenton community rather than a fixed attendance zone, and families choose it actively. The school is mid-sized for a PK-8 campus, with enrollment distributed fairly evenly across grades from kindergarten through sixth, tapering in seventh and eighth.

The student body is majority Hispanic, with substantial shares of Black and white students as well. A clear majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which places this among schools serving a higher proportion of economically disadvantaged families. Data on English learner and IEP populations were not available in what was provided.

State assessment results from the most recent year tell a mixed story. In science at fifth grade, results were genuinely strong, with well over half of students reaching proficiency, one of the brighter marks in the data. Math at fifth grade was also relatively solid. Third-grade math was around the midpoint, and third- and fifth-grade ELA hovered in the low-to-mid forties. The pattern shifts as students move into the middle grades. Math proficiency in sixth, seventh, and eighth grade fell to the lower third of the tested range, and eighth-grade science results were quite low, with fewer than a quarter of students reaching proficiency. ELA in sixth and eighth grade was similarly weak, though seventh grade came in a bit higher than those two. A parent considering the school's middle grades math and science trajectory would want to ask the school directly about what supports and interventions are in place, because the gap between the elementary and middle school results is worth understanding before enrolling a fifth or sixth grader.

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

The school does not serve high school grades, so graduation rate does not apply here.

Bradenton itself is a growing city, the county seat of Manatee County, anchored by a historic downtown along the Manatee River. The Village of the Arts district, the Riverwalk park, the Bishop Museum of Science and Nature, and the Manatee Performing Arts Center all sit close to the city center. Major corridors like Cortez Road and Manatee Avenue are more auto-oriented. Employers in the area include Tropicana, Bealls, First Watch, IMG Academy, and the county school system itself. The city is seeing substantial new apartment construction, part of a broader wave of growth across the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton metro.

Housing near the school carries a home value that has dipped modestly over the past year and sits roughly in line with the national median. Rents in the zip code have ticked upward slightly. The price-to-income ratio suggests buying is a stretch at current mortgage rates, and rent absorbs a meaningful share of the typical household's income, a relevant consideration for families weighing relocation.

The parent district, Manatee County Schools, has been active on several fronts that affect the broader context. Voters renewed a one-mill property tax referendum in late 2024 that funds teacher pay supplements, extended instructional time, STEM and career programs, arts, athletics, early literacy, and school safety. Publicly reported information indicates this renewal also allocates funds to charter schools, which would include Manatee Charter School. The district has also redrawn elementary and middle school attendance zones due to enrollment growth, though as a charter school Manatee Charter operates outside those zone boundaries. AI-based weapon detection systems have been deployed across the district's high schools and selectively at middle schools.

Program details specific to Manatee Charter School were not available in the data provided, so what curricular or extracurricular offerings the school has beyond what the state assessments measure, a family would need to explore directly with the school.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 351%

School 51% · District 62% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 436%

School 36% · District 57% · ▼ 21 pts below district

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

Grade 556%

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

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

Grade 633%

School 33% · District 61% · ▼ 28 pts below district

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 60 pts below county median

Grade 721%

School 21% · District 45% · ▼ 24 pts below district

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

Grade 829%

School 29% · District 57% · ▼ 28 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 23 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 342%

School 42% · District 52% · ▼ 10 pts below district

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

Grade 438%

School 38% · District 54% · ▼ 16 pts below district

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

Grade 544%

School 44% · District 54% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 630%

School 30% · District 53% · ▼ 23 pts below district

▼ 30 pts below state median · ▼ 25 pts below county median

Grade 743%

School 43% · District 52% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

Grade 833%

School 33% · District 52% · ▼ 19 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 561%

School 61% · District 52% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

Grade 820%

School 20% · District 50% · ▼ 30 pts below district

▼ 26 pts below state median · ▼ 28 pts below county median

This schoolMANATEE, 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-income38%Higher-income58%20 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income36%Higher-income43%7 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income50%Higher-income35%15 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income21%Higher-income50%29 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income44%Higher-income42%2 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income29%Higher-income46%18 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income46%Higher-income68%23 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income31%Higher-income50%19 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income50%Higher-income65%15 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income32%Higher-income36%4 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income18%Higher-income26%8 pp gap