Sigsbee Charter School, Key West FL

Original Research by School Decision on Sigsbee Charter School

Sigsbee Charter School sits on Felton Road in Key West, a small island city at the southern tip of Florida that draws millions of visitors annually while maintaining a compact, walkable residential core. The school serves kindergarten through eighth grade, making it a full K-8 pathway within Monroe County's single-district public school system.

Academically, Sigsbee's most recent Florida state assessment results are strong across most tested grades. In math, proficiency rates run well above what most families would consider solid ground, with sixth grade standing out as especially high. Seventh and eighth grade math results are also very good. Third and fourth grade math land in a range that speaks to a school doing well by its younger students. The one soft spot worth noting is fifth grade ELA, where proficiency drops noticeably compared to every other grade the school tested in reading and writing. The surrounding grades, third, fourth, sixth, seventh, and eighth, all post respectable ELA results, which makes fifth grade a question worth raising directly with the school. Science results at both the fifth and eighth grade checkpoints are solid. A parent should know that multi-year trend data was not available, so whether these results represent improvement, stability, or a recent shift cannot be determined from the data at hand.

The school's demographic mix reflects Key West's broader character. White students make up a clear majority of enrollment, with Hispanic students the next largest group, and students of two or more races comprising a meaningful share. Black and Asian students are enrolled in smaller numbers. The share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch is relatively modest compared to many Florida schools, suggesting a student body drawn heavily from families with more economic stability, though Key West's extraordinary cost of living complicates any simple reading of that figure. Data on English learner enrollment and students with IEPs was not reported, so families of students who may need those services should ask the school directly about its capacity and programming.

The housing market surrounding Sigsbee is among the most expensive in Florida, running far above both the state and national medians. Home values in the zip code have edged down year over year, though rents have ticked up slightly. The gap between what it costs to own versus rent is unusually wide, and the rent-to-income ratio suggests that housing in Key West consumes a substantial portion of a typical household's budget. For families weighing a move, this is a real constraint. Monroe County voters in late 2024 renewed two longstanding school funding measures, one supporting teacher salaries and school-level staffing including nurses and resource officers, the other covering facilities and maintenance. Publicly reported accounts noted that district leaders had warned that failing the renewals would have eliminated a substantial number of positions. The renewals passed and carry no new tax burden beyond what was already in place. For the 2025-26 fiscal year, the district did adopt a property tax rate increase directed at capital projects including new construction, ADA compliance, safety improvements, and bus replacement, which is a concrete cost change for homeowners to factor in.

As a charter school, Sigsbee operates with some autonomy from the Monroe district's standard assignment zones, though it is a public school accountable to state oversight. Program details, extracurriculars, and any specialized instructional approach were not available in the data provided, so a direct conversation with the school would fill in what a brochure or website visit cannot. Key West itself offers a walkable, transit-connected environment; the city runs multiple bus routes and an on-demand transit option, and the island's density makes it reasonably bikeable for older students. The Monroe County public library system's main branch, one of the oldest in Florida, anchors civic life on the island.

For a family looking for a K-8 path in Key West with generally strong academic results and a relatively small, community-embedded setting, Sigsbee presents a real option. The fifth grade ELA dip and the absence of IEP and ELL data are the two places a parent may want to look into further with the school before making a decision.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 378%

School 78% · District 64% · ▲ 14 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Grade 479%

School 79% · District 58% · ▲ 21 pts above district

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

Grade 571%

School 71% · District 53% · ▲ 18 pts above district

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

Grade 693%

School 93% · District 65% · ▲ 28 pts above district

▲ 31 pts above state median

Grade 783%

School 83% · District 60% · ▲ 23 pts above district

▲ 34 pts above state median

Grade 882%

School 82% · District 45% · ▲ 37 pts above district

▲ 31 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 376%

School 76% · District 58% · ▲ 18 pts above district

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

Grade 470%

School 70% · District 54% · ▲ 16 pts above district

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

Grade 552%

School 52% · District 47% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▼ 2 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 677%

School 77% · District 61% · ▲ 16 pts above district

▲ 17 pts above state median

Grade 778%

School 78% · District 55% · ▲ 23 pts above district

▲ 23 pts above state median

Grade 878%

School 78% · District 53% · ▲ 25 pts above district

▲ 24 pts above state median

Science

Grade 572%

School 72% · District 51% · ▲ 21 pts above district

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

Grade 881%

School 81% · District 52% · ▲ 29 pts above district

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

This schoolMONROE, 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-income80%Higher-income75%5 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income50%Higher-income75%25 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income40%Higher-income57%17 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income73%Higher-income78%6 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income100%Higher-income73%27 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income67%Higher-income82%15 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income65%Higher-income74%9 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income91%Higher-income94%3 pp gap