Parrish Charter Academy, Parrish FL

Original Research by School Decision on Parrish Charter Academy

Parrish Charter Academy is a kindergarten-through-eighth-grade charter school on Erie Road in Parrish, Florida, operated under the Manatee County School District. It sits in one of the fastest-growing corners of Manatee County, where former cattle land is rapidly filling with master-planned subdivisions, and where schools are expanding alongside a community still catching up on basic commercial infrastructure.

The student body is moderately sized for a K-8 school. It skews heavily white, with Hispanic students making up a meaningful secondary group and smaller shares of Black, Asian, and multiracial students. The share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals is relatively modest, suggesting the school draws largely from the newer residential communities in the area rather than from lower-income households. Data on English learners and students with IEPs were not available in what was provided.

On the Florida statewide assessments, the picture is genuinely uneven and warrants attention. In the early grades, the school shows real strength: third-grade math proficiency is high by any measure, and third-grade ELA is solid. Seventh-grade math is particularly strong. But the middle years tell a different story. Fifth-grade math and ELA proficiency rates are below half of students tested, and fourth-grade ELA is only slightly better. Sixth-grade results in both subjects sit in the low fifties, and fifth-grade science proficiency is well below half. Eighth-grade math and ELA recover noticeably, which is encouraging, but eighth-grade science comes in right at the midpoint. The comparison framework for Manatee County's schools could not be applied here because the county's district set has only one district, so no peer comparison is available from this data. Families should ask the school directly what explains the dip in grades four through six and what supports are in place, particularly in ELA and science for the upper elementary years.

No data on attendance, chronic absenteeism, discipline, or specific program offerings were included in the available records. Because the school ends at eighth grade, no graduation rate applies. Prior-year trend data were not available for comparison, so whether results are improving, declining, or holding steady cannot be determined from what was provided.

The district context matters for charter families. Manatee County voters renewed a supplemental property-tax measure in late 2024 that explicitly funds charter schools alongside district ones, covering teacher salary supplements, STEM, career and technical education, early literacy, and school safety. That renewal extends a stream of funding that Parrish Charter Academy is publicly reported to benefit from. The district has also installed AI-based weapon-detection systems across its campuses, including middle schools, following incidents in prior years; families should check with the school on how security protocols are implemented at the charter level.

Parrish itself is car-dependent and spread out. There is no walkable town center, and public transit does not yet reach the area. Residents drive to most daily needs. The Rocky Bluff Branch Library serves the community and offers programming; the Florida Railroad Museum runs weekend excursions nearby; and state parks and preserves are accessible for outdoor recreation. A future hospital north of the Manatee River is under development, and a State College of Florida campus is planned along Erie Road, which would eventually bring more services and employment to the immediate corridor where the school sits.

Housing near the school reflects the area's recent growth surge. Home values are above both state and national benchmarks, though they have dipped modestly year-over-year. Rents have held nearly flat. The price-to-income ratio is elevated relative to national norms, and estimated monthly housing costs are substantial, meaning the community skews toward buyers who can absorb those costs rather than a broad income range.

For a family considering this school, the choice is essentially between a smaller charter setting with a mixed academic profile and the district's zoned elementary and middle options, which are themselves undergoing attendance-zone redrawing in response to rapid growth. The school's strong performance in early elementary and upper middle grades is real. The softer stretch through fourth, fifth, and sixth grade is equally real, and a parent would be well served by asking the school how it addresses that gap.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 374%

School 74% · District 62% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

Grade 458%

School 58% · District 57% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 3 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 548%

School 48% · District 59% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Grade 654%

School 54% · District 61% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 39 pts below county median

Grade 783%

School 83% · District 45% · ▲ 38 pts above district

▲ 34 pts above state median · ▲ 41 pts above county median

Grade 878%

School 78% · District 57% · ▲ 21 pts above district

▲ 27 pts above state median · ▲ 26 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 366%

School 66% · District 52% · ▲ 14 pts above district

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

Grade 455%

School 55% · District 54% · ▲ 1 pts above district

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

Grade 546%

School 46% · District 54% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 651%

School 51% · District 53% · ▼ 2 pts below district

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

Grade 761%

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

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

Grade 870%

School 70% · District 52% · ▲ 18 pts above district

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

Science

Grade 538%

School 38% · District 52% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 850%

School 50% · District 50%

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 2 pts above 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-income73%Higher-income64%8 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income41%Higher-income59%18 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income20%Higher-income51%31 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income53%Higher-income63%10 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income62%Higher-income72%11 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income73%Higher-income74%2 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income47%Higher-income60%13 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income7%Higher-income56%49 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income85%Higher-income83%2 pp gap