The top reported proficiency rate is 59% in Math. The lowest is 50% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Southport Middle School
Southport Middle School sits on SE Morningside Boulevard in Port St. Lucie, serving sixth through eighth graders as a regular public school within St. Lucie County's district. The school draws from a city that has grown quickly and continues to grow, a sprawling, car-dependent place built originally as a residential grid without a traditional center, now adding commercial districts, new schools, and tens of thousands of residents in its western and master-planned sectors. For families choosing where to live, that growth context matters: the district opened its first new high school in nearly a generation in 2025 and has another K-8 school slated for 2026, with attendance zones being redrawn to match the shifting population. Southport's own zone, on the eastern side of the city near the Morningside Branch library and the North Fork of the St. Lucie River, sits in an older, more established residential fabric than the fast-building west.
The student body is meaningfully diverse by race and ethnicity, with white, Hispanic, and Black students each making up substantial portions of enrollment, and multiracial and Asian students represented as well. A majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that the school serves a broad economic cross-section with a lean toward lower-income households. Data on students with IEPs or English learner status was not available in the data provided, so parents with children in those programs would want to ask the school directly.
On Florida's FAST assessments, Southport's proficiency results across all three grade levels and subjects fall roughly in the mid-range. In math, sixth and seventh graders score in the mid-to-upper-mid range, with eighth graders slightly higher. ELA proficiency hovers just above or at the halfway mark across all three grades, with sixth graders edging ahead and seventh and eighth roughly even. Eighth-grade science proficiency sits right at the halfway point on Florida's Statewide Science Assessment. None of these results represent a clear strength or a deep deficit; they describe a school where a meaningful share of students are proficient but a substantial share are not yet meeting the state's standard. The comparison data set for St. Lucie County contains only one district, so no meaningful county-level positioning is available against peer districts. Trend data was also unavailable, so it is not possible to say whether results have been moving in either direction. Parents who want to understand how these numbers have changed over time, or how individual grade-level teachers approach gaps in mastery, would benefit from asking the school directly.
No program offerings were reported in the data, so specific electives, athletics, clubs, or enrichment pathways at Southport could not be characterized here. Families with particular interests in arts, STEM, or extracurricular programming should contact the school.
On the housing side, the zip code around Southport carries home values that sit below Florida's state median and close to the national median, with values down modestly year over year. Rents are roughly flat year over year. The rent-to-income ratio, using national income figures, is on the high side of comfortable, a pattern common to fast-growing Florida markets. At current mortgage rates, carrying a typical home in the area requires a substantial monthly payment. The market has been shifting toward more balanced conditions as inventory grows and price appreciation slows, which publicly reported sources suggest may make the area more accessible for buyers than it was in recent years.
The district's publicly reported property tax renewal, approved in 2022 and running through 2027, funds teacher recruitment and retention pay, a school resource officer on every campus, and mental health services. A sales tax extension approved in 2024 funds capital projects, new schools, and safety improvements. Both affect what families pay in taxes and what staffing and safety infrastructure the school can sustain.
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