The top reported proficiency rate is 82% in Math. The lowest is 74% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Venice Elementary School
Venice Elementary School sits on East Miami Avenue in the historic island core of Venice, a Gulf Coast city in Sarasota County where a 1920s Mediterranean Revival downtown meets a coastline of beaches and trails. The school serves children from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade, and its location places families within walking distance of that compact, walkable town center that publicly reported sources describe as genuinely self-sustaining, with local shops, restaurants, a farmers market, and parks rather than strip-mall sprawl. The Legacy Trail and Venetian Waterway Park together form a long continuous trail network that begins right in the city. For families weighing a neighborhood, the housing market here has seen home values drift downward over the past year, landing near the Florida statewide median, while rents have moved modestly upward; the rent-to-income ratio sits at a level that housing analysts would flag as stretched for typical earners.
Academically, Venice Elementary posts strong results on Florida's FAST assessments. Math proficiency is high across all three tested grades, third through fifth, with each grade landing well above what most would consider a solid majority of students scoring proficient. ELA results are also above average, with third grade performing particularly well and fifth grade slightly lower, though still well above the midpoint. The fifth-grade science assessment, administered statewide, shows most students proficient there too. In the context of Florida public elementary schools, these are genuinely strong numbers, not just adequate ones. Multi-year trend data was not available in the assessment records provided, so it is not possible to characterize whether results have been climbing, holding, or shifting.
The school's enrollment is mid-sized for an elementary serving this grade band. Its student population is predominantly white, with Hispanic students making up the next largest group, a smaller share of students identifying as two or more races, and smaller representations of Asian, Black, and other backgrounds. Roughly two-fifths of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which reflects a meaningful share of economically disadvantaged families but not a majority. Data on English learner enrollment and students with individualized education programs was not available in the records provided; a parent with specific questions about those support services would want to ask the school directly.
Program details were not included in the data available, so the narrative on extracurricular offerings, enrichment tracks, or specialized instruction within the building is left out rather than guessed. Venice Elementary is a regular public school within Sarasota County Schools, not a charter or magnet.
At the district level, two changes are worth knowing about. Sarasota County voters renewed a property tax millage in late 2024 that runs through 2030 and, according to publicly reported accounts, funds a meaningful share of the district's operating budget, directed primarily toward teacher recruitment and retention, extended instruction time, arts, and career and technical programs. That funding stability is relevant for any family thinking about the next several years. Separately, the district approved a restructuring plan in late 2025 that converts several elementary schools into K-8 campuses and adds STEAM and Cambridge programming at select sites; the schools named in that plan are not Venice Elementary, but the reorganization signals a period of deliberate change across the district that families should follow. The district also completed its transition to Florida's B.E.S.T. Standards and the FAST assessment during the early 2020s, which means the scores reported here reflect the current testing regime and are not directly comparable to older Florida Standards Assessment results.
Venice, broadly, is in a growth phase. The Wellen Park master-planned community to the south is among the fastest-growing in the country by publicly reported sales rankings, with new schools already planned for that area. Whether that growth reshapes attendance boundaries or adds enrollment pressure to existing campuses like Venice Elementary is a question worth raising with the district directly.
See more original research from School Decision →