The top reported proficiency rate is 57% in Math. The lowest is 45% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Belleair Elementary School
Belleair Elementary sits on Lakeview Road in Clearwater, serving children from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade as part of Pinellas County Schools. The school draws from a city that is mid-sized by Florida standards and currently in the middle of a significant downtown transformation, with new civic infrastructure, a redeveloped waterfront park, mixed-use towers under construction, and a comprehensive plan pushing toward higher density near the urban core. Most of the city outside that downtown corridor remains car-oriented residential and commercial corridors, so day-to-day life for most families is suburban in feel even as the broader place is changing.
The student body is predominantly Hispanic and Black, with white students making up a smaller share and multiracial students accounting for the rest. The vast majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, which places this squarely among Clearwater's higher-need elementary schools. Data on English learner and special education populations were not reported in what was available, so a parent who needs detail on those supports should ask the school directly.
On Florida's FAST assessments, math results are the relative strength. Fifth graders came in solidly above half proficient, and third and fourth grade math results were just below that. In ELA, the picture is weaker: proficiency rates across third, fourth, and fifth grade are all below half, with fifth grade the lowest of the three. The Florida Statewide Science Assessment for fifth grade lands close to the math numbers, at roughly the same level. Taken together, reading and writing skills as measured by state tests are a real area to watch, and a parent would be reasonable to ask the school about its specific ELA intervention strategies and how progress is tracked for individual students.
That said, there is meaningful context. Pinellas County Schools publicly reported earning its first-ever "A" district grade from the Florida Department of Education in 2024, attributed in part to a custom-built ELA curriculum aligned to the state's B.E.S.T. standards and a science-of-reading approach rolling out from kindergarten upward. The district's approach to early literacy is an active, documented effort rather than a static condition, and how fully that curriculum is taking hold at Belleair specifically is worth exploring with the school.
The county comparison framework in the data is not usable here in the usual way, because Pinellas operates as a single district county-wide and the cohort size is too small to generate meaningful position rankings. Chronic absenteeism and graduation rate data are not applicable at the elementary level and were not reported.
On housing, the zip code Belleair Elementary serves carries home values that are broadly in line with statewide and national medians, with values that have dipped modestly year over year. Rents in the area have also declined somewhat recently. The mortgage-to-rent cost gap is relatively narrow, which can make ownership and renting reasonably comparable calculations for families evaluating the neighborhood. Clearwater's broader cost picture reflects a market that was pushed upward in prior years and is softening somewhat now.
One development that bears directly on school finances: Pinellas County voters approved a renewal and expansion of the local school property tax in late 2024. The rate was doubled from the previous level and extended for another term. Publicly reported information indicates the funds go toward teacher and support-staff bonuses, reading, music, art, and technology programs. For a prospective homebuyer, this is a real and recurring cost to account for. For a family thinking about school quality, it represents a voter-affirmed commitment to program staffing that has persisted for decades in this county.
Belleair Elementary is a school serving a high-need population in a changing urban context, with math performance running somewhat ahead of ELA. The district around it is making deliberate moves on early literacy. Whether those moves are landing at this particular school in ways that show up for a given child is the question a visiting parent should bring to the principal.
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