The top reported proficiency rate is 72% in Math. The lowest is 70% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Florosa Elementary School
Florosa Elementary sits on the western end of Mary Esther's US Highway 98 corridor, a few miles from Hurlburt Field and within the Okaloosa County School District. It serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grade as a regular public school, drawing from neighborhoods that are mostly residential and heavily shaped by the nearby Air Force installations that anchor this stretch of the Florida Panhandle.
The school's student body is moderately sized for an elementary serving this grade band. Roughly half of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, meaning economic diversity is real and present. The racial and ethnic composition is mixed: white students make up a slim majority, with Hispanic students the second-largest group, followed by students identifying as two or more races and Black students, with smaller shares of other backgrounds. Data on English learner enrollment and students with IEPs was not available in what was provided.
On Florida's FAST assessments, Florosa's results for the most recent school year are genuinely solid. Math proficiency across the tested grades runs from the upper sixties to the mid-seventies, with fourth grade performing strongest. ELA proficiency follows a similar pattern, ranging from the upper sixties into the low seventies, also peaking at fourth grade. Fifth-grade science proficiency, measured by the Florida Statewide Science Assessment, lands around seventy percent. Taken together, these results place Florosa in comfortably above-average territory when measured against the full Florida distribution, not just a narrow local peer group. Trend data across years was not available, so whether scores are rising, holding, or slipping cannot be assessed from what was provided here.
The broader district context matters for families. Okaloosa County School District is publicly reported to be one of only three Florida districts to have earned the state's top rating every year since the grading system began, and its most recent district score improved year over year. A half-cent sales tax approved by voters funds an active capital improvement program covering classroom renovations, air conditioning and roof repairs, technology upgrades, and bus fleet replacement, with a citizens' oversight committee tracking the spending. The district is also in the middle of its first new school construction in decades, including a new K-8 campus in Crestview opening in 2026 to relieve overcrowding. None of those specific projects are described as affecting Florosa directly in what was provided, but the capital program is district-wide. Program details specific to Florosa, including any enrichment offerings, after-school programs, or specialist courses, were not included in the data.
Mary Esther itself is a small coastal city tucked between Fort Walton Beach and Navarre, predominantly owner-occupied and suburban in feel. Most daily life is car-oriented, organized around Highway 98 rather than any walkable town center. The biggest community change underway is the demolition and redevelopment of the former Santa Rosa Mall site into a mixed-use project with residential units, a grocery, and retail, with construction targeted for late 2026. That redevelopment sits close to the school's corridor and could bring modest neighborhood change over the next few years.
Home values in the zip code are modestly below the Florida statewide benchmark and close to the national figure, with a slight year-over-year decline. Rents are ticking upward. For families weighing whether to buy or rent near Florosa, the area is not cheap by national standards, but it is somewhat more accessible than the Florida average. The rent-to-income ratio is publicly reported to sit at a manageable share of median income relative to many Florida coastal markets.
The comparison framework for Okaloosa County contains only a single district, so placing Florosa against neighboring district peers was not possible from the available data. A family researching how Florosa compares school by school within the district would want to look directly at the district's published school-level results.
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