Gulf Beaches Elementary Magnet School, St. Petersburg FL

Original Research by School Decision on Gulf Beaches Elementary Magnet School

Gulf Beaches Elementary Magnet School sits at the western edge of St. Petersburg, on Boca Ciega Drive, which puts it near the barrier island communities along the Gulf rather than in the urban core. It serves kindergarten through fifth grade within Pinellas County Schools and draws from a attendance zone that includes some of the county's most premium coastal real estate. The school's magnet designation reflects its place within the district's choice framework, though the specific programmatic theme was not included in the data provided.

Academic performance here is genuinely strong. On Florida's FAST assessments, math proficiency across the tested grade levels runs from a solid baseline in fourth grade up to impressive results in third and fifth. ELA follows a similar pattern, with third and fifth grade performing well and fourth grade sitting somewhat lower, though still well above what most elementary schools in Florida post. Fifth-grade science results on the Florida Statewide Science Assessment are equally high. Across all three subjects, this school is consistently performing at a level parents would recognize as a strength, not a question mark. Trend data across prior years was not available in the data provided, so whether these results represent improvement, stability, or a decline from a higher peak is something a parent may want to ask the school directly.

Enrollment is small for an elementary school, with students fairly evenly distributed across grades. The student body is predominantly white, with Hispanic students making up the next largest group and multiracial students a notable share as well. About a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which is a moderate economic diversity level for a Florida coastal school. Data on students with IEPs or English learner populations was not reported, so parents with children in those categories would want to ask the school directly about service levels and staffing.

The parent district has made two changes worth knowing. Pinellas County Schools developed its own custom early literacy curriculum aligned to Florida's B.E.S.T. standards, rooted in a science-of-reading approach starting in kindergarten. This shift coincided with the district publicly earning its first-ever top state letter grade, a meaningful signal for families weighing elementary choices. Separately, voters in late 2024 renewed and expanded a local-option school property tax, doubling the rate for another multi-year term. The funds go to teacher and support staff bonuses and to programs in reading, music, art, and technology. For a homebuyer in this zip code, this is a real carrying cost to factor in; for a family already here, it represents a stabilizer for the programs and staffing families at a school like this depend on.

The housing market around this school is among the most expensive in the state. Home values in the zip code are well above both the Florida median and the national median, and they have pulled back meaningfully over the past year. Rents remain elevated but have also softened. The rent-to-income ratio sits at the edge of what housing economists consider affordable, and the estimated monthly mortgage on a typical area home is substantial. St. Petersburg more broadly is in an active development phase, with large mixed-use and residential projects reshaping downtown and surrounding corridors, and a generational redevelopment underway near Tropicana Field. The city's walkable downtown, waterfront parks, public transit including bus rapid transit to the beaches, and a concentration of employers in finance, manufacturing, health care, and marine science give the broader community real texture. The Gulf Beaches end of town has its own character, quieter and more residential, oriented toward the water rather than the commercial core.

No information on course access, discipline data, staffing ratios, or chronic absenteeism was available in the data provided.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 386%

School 86% · District 68% · ▲ 18 pts above district

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

Grade 477%

School 77% · District 68% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 586%

School 86% · District 65% · ▲ 21 pts above district

▲ 31 pts above state median · ▲ 22 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 384%

School 84% · District 65% · ▲ 19 pts above district

▲ 28 pts above state median · ▲ 17 pts above county median

Grade 473%

School 73% · District 62% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Grade 580%

School 80% · District 61% · ▲ 19 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 582%

School 82% · District 67% · ▲ 15 pts above district

▲ 29 pts above state median · ▲ 17 pts above county median

This schoolPINELLAS, 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-income85%Higher-income84%1 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income55%Higher-income84%29 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income76%Higher-income83%7 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income75%Higher-income94%19 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income70%Higher-income81%11 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income71%Higher-income97%25 pp gap