Hamilton Elementary School, Sanford FL

Original Research by School Decision on Hamilton Elementary School

Hamilton Elementary sits at the east end of Sanford, a city whose identity is split between a walkable historic downtown near Lake Monroe and the broader car-dependent corridors and residential neighborhoods that surround it. The school is a conventional public elementary, part of Seminole County Public Schools, serving prekindergarten through fifth grade.

The student body is sizable for an elementary school and draws from a neighborhood with real economic need. A large majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which places Hamilton among the higher-need campuses in the region. The school's racial and ethnic composition is diverse: Black and Hispanic students together make up a clear majority, with white students and students of two or more races also present. Data on English learner enrollment and students with IEPs was not available in this profile, so parents with questions about those services should contact the school directly.

On Florida's FAST assessments, the picture is mixed and worth looking at grade by grade. Third graders scored solidly in both reading and math, at levels that indicate most students in those cohorts are on track. Fourth grade results drop in both subjects, and fifth grade drops further, particularly in math, where fewer than half of students reached proficiency. The fifth-grade science result was a bit stronger, with roughly three in five students proficient. Sixth-grade math shows a near-perfect rate, but this likely reflects a very small number of students taking advanced coursework and should not be read as a schoolwide benchmark. The overall pattern, strong entry-grade results that soften in the upper elementary years, is something a parent may want to ask the school about directly, particularly around what instructional support is available for students who fall behind in grades four and five.

Multi-year trend data was not available in this profile, so there is no way here to say whether results have been improving, declining, or holding steady.

On the district level, two policy changes are worth knowing. Seminole County Public Schools now treats AI-generated work as plagiarism, which affects how students at all levels are expected to approach assignments. The district also prohibits cell phone use for all elementary students throughout the school day, a change that took effect for the 2025-26 school year. For families buying a home, Seminole County voters recently renewed a one-cent infrastructure sales surtax for another extended period; a share of that revenue funds school improvements, security upgrades, and classroom technology, sustaining a long-term funding stream for facilities. The district's property tax millage rate has edged down slightly in recent years, though rising home values mean most homeowners are paying more in total school taxes than before.

The housing market around the school reflects Sanford's broader growth moment. Home values in the zip code sit roughly in line with Florida's statewide median and have dipped modestly year over year. Rents are essentially flat compared to a year ago. Sanford is publicly reported to be in an active construction phase, with multiple large multifamily and townhome projects in various stages of approval or development, including projects near the State Road 46 corridor. Officials have acknowledged that rezoning activity has outpaced actual permitting, and that a substantial share of city land remains undeveloped. Families considering the area should expect a neighborhood still in transition.

Sanford itself offers a genuine downtown with walkable streets, a waterfront path along Lake Monroe, a performing arts center, a farmers market, and a commuter rail station with connections to the Orlando metro. These are real amenities within reach, though the school's immediate neighborhood on the east side of the city is more residential and car-dependent than the historic core.

Program information for Hamilton Elementary was not available in this profile. Parents interested in any enrichment, intervention, or specialty offerings at the school should reach out to the school or the district directly.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 376%

School 76% · District 70% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 466%

School 66% · District 69% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▲ 5 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 543%

School 43% · District 46% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 6100%

School 100% · District 71% · ▲ 29 pts above district

▲ 38 pts above state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 375%

School 75% · District 69% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Grade 460%

School 60% · District 67% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 557%

School 57% · District 64% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Science

Grade 563%

School 63% · District 66% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▲ 10 pts above state median · even with county median

This schoolSEMINOLE, 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-income65%Higher-income97%32 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income58%Higher-income69%10 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income51%Higher-income89%38 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income66%Higher-income97%31 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income65%Higher-income75%11 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income41%Higher-income60%20 pp gap