Original Research by School Decision on Pace Center for Girls
PACE Center for Girls in New Port Richey is an alternative school serving girls in grades six through twelve, operating under the Pasco County school district. It is a very small school by any measure, with an enrollment that puts it well below the size of any comprehensive middle or high school in the county. The grade distribution shows students concentrated in the middle school and upper high school years, with no sixth graders enrolled in the reported year.
Because this is a designated alternative school, several standard data points simply do not apply in the usual way. State assessment results are not reported here, and the comparison metrics for proficiency, graduation rate, and chronic absenteeism were all returned as not applicable due to missing entity values. That absence should not be read as a weak academic record; alternative schools like this one typically serve students whose circumstances place them outside the standard testing and accountability framework, and the absence of conventional metrics reflects that context rather than conveying information about quality. A parent who wants to understand academic outcomes should speak directly with the school.
Free and reduced price lunch data, IEP rates, and English learner rates were not reported in the available data, so the economic and support profile of the student body cannot be characterized from this source alone. The racial and ethnic composition shows a majority of enrolled students identified as white, with Hispanic students making up a meaningful share, and a smaller share of Black students.
PACE Center for Girls is publicly reported as a network specifically designed to serve girls and young women who have faced barriers to staying in traditional school settings, including involvement with the justice system, family instability, or other significant life circumstances. The model, as publicly described, combines academic instruction with counseling, life skills, and case management in a nonpunitive environment. Families considering this school are generally coming to it because a daughter's situation has made a conventional school setting a poor fit, not because they are comparison-shopping among options.
The school sits on Little Road in New Port Richey, a few miles from the compact historic downtown along the Pithlachascotee River. That downtown has been on a revitalization trajectory, publicly described as earning Main Street America accreditation in 2026, with new businesses, public space improvements, and a mixed-use housing development under construction nearby with expected completion in 2027. The broader city is part of the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metro area, suburban in character, with healthcare and public education among the dominant employment sectors. Outside the walkable downtown core, the area is car-dependent.
Housing in the zip code covering this part of New Port Richey sits below both the Florida statewide median and the national median, with values trending slightly downward year over year. Rents have also come down modestly. For families weighing a move to the area, the Pasco district as a whole has been an active place: voters approved a property-tax referendum in 2022 to fund teacher and staff salaries, and that measure is up for renewal in November 2026. A separate sales tax renewal, Penny for Pasco, directs capital funding toward new schools and renovations across the county, which is managing rapid growth especially in the eastern parts of the district around Wesley Chapel.
For a family whose daughter is currently enrolled or being considered for enrollment at PACE, the practical questions are less about comparing test scores and more about whether the school's wraparound model and small, girls-only setting match what she needs right now. Those questions are best answered by the school itself, and the available data does not speak to them.
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