The top reported proficiency rate is 51% in Math. The lowest is 43% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Bay Point Elementary School
Bay Point Elementary sits on the south side of St. Petersburg, serving children from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade as a regular public school in the Pinellas County Schools district. The enrollment is modest relative to many elementary schools in the area, and the student body is predominantly Black, with smaller Hispanic and white populations and students of two or more races. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, placing this among the higher-need schools in the district. Data on English learners and students with IEPs was not available in the records we reviewed, so parents seeking those details may want to reach out to the school directly.
On state assessments, Bay Point's results from the most recent year reflect room for growth. In reading, proficiency rates across third, fourth, and fifth grades were all below the halfway mark, with fourth grade landing at the lower end of that range. Math results were somewhat stronger, with third and fifth grade both sitting just above half of students reaching proficiency and fourth grade just below. Fifth-grade science proficiency landed close to the midpoint. Taken together, the picture is one where the majority of students in each tested grade are not yet reaching the state's proficiency threshold, and parents who want to understand what supports are in place for struggling readers or math learners may want to ask the school specifically about intervention programs.
One broader context worth knowing: Pinellas County Schools earned a state "A" grade in 2024 for the first time in district history, publicly attributed in part to the district's development of a custom ELA curriculum aligned to Florida's B.E.S.T. standards and built around the science of reading, starting in the early grades. That curriculum extends into the grade band Bay Point serves, so the instructional approach at the school reflects that districtwide shift. Whether Bay Point's own results have moved in parallel is not captured in the multi-year trend data available, as trend comparability was flagged as unknown.
Voter-approved funding also shapes the picture for families who own nearby homes. In late 2024, Pinellas County voters renewed and expanded a local-option school property tax, doubling the rate for a multi-year period. The funds support teacher and staff bonuses and programs including reading, music, art, and technology. This adds a predictable cost for homeowners but also a measure of program and staffing stability.
On the housing side, home values in the zip code around Bay Point have declined modestly over the past year and now sit below both the Florida state median and the national median, making the immediate area more accessible than many parts of Pinellas County. Rents in the area have been essentially flat over the same period, and the rent-to-income ratio suggests housing costs in this part of St. Petersburg, while still meaningful, are less stretched than in higher-demand parts of the metro. The broader city is in an active development cycle: large mixed-use projects, a generational redevelopment around the Tropicana Field site, and a push on affordable housing are all reshaping the landscape of St. Petersburg, though most of the most intense construction activity has been concentrated in the downtown core north of where Bay Point sits.
The school's neighborhood context is a working residential part of the city rather than the downtown arts corridor, though the city's transit network and walkable infrastructure are accessible. St. Petersburg's civic anchors, the downtown waterfront parks, a recently renovated main library, and the SunRunner bus rapid transit connecting downtown to the beaches, are part of daily life for families who use them.
No information on specific programs, after-school offerings, staffing ratios, or attendance patterns was available in the data we reviewed. A family considering Bay Point would benefit from a direct conversation with school staff about academic support structures, given the proficiency picture the state assessments reflect.
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