The top reported proficiency rate is 89% in Science. The lowest is 78% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Dune Lakes Elementary School
Dune Lakes Elementary sits on US Highway 98 in Santa Rosa Beach, along the south Walton County corridor that has been one of the faster-growing stretches of the Florida Panhandle. The school serves kindergarten through fifth grade and draws a student body that is majority white, with a substantial Hispanic population and smaller shares of other groups. About a quarter of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which is a relatively low economic-need profile for a Florida public elementary. Data on English learner counts and students with IEPs was not available in what we reviewed.
The academic picture here is genuinely strong. On Florida's FAST assessments in the most recent school year, math proficiency across the tested grades ran from solidly high in third grade to very high in fourth and fifth, with fourth grade in particular among the standout results. ELA scores are also well above what most Florida elementary schools report, with fourth grade again the high point and third grade the softer spot, though still well above the typical state baseline. Fifth-grade science proficiency on the Florida Statewide Science Assessment was also very high. Across every tested subject and grade, Dune Lakes is performing at a level parents looking for strong academic outcomes should find reassuring. Trend data across years was not available, so it is not possible to say whether scores have been climbing or holding steady.
The school is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet. Enrollment is substantial for an elementary school and the grades are all well-populated, with the largest cohorts in the lower grades, which may reflect the area's ongoing growth. Program-specific details, course offerings, staffing ratios, attendance, and discipline data were not included in the information we reviewed, so parents with questions on those fronts would want to ask the school directly.
The surrounding community context matters here. South Walton County has been growing rapidly, and the district is navigating real capacity pressure, particularly in the southern schools. The district has publicly reported purchasing land for a new school to address growth in the south county, and rezoning is an active concern for families relocating to the area. Dune Lakes is itself in the south county zone, so capacity and potential attendance boundary changes are worth asking the school district about before settling on a home address.
On the district level, a few developments are worth knowing. The Seacoast Collegiate High School and a Northwest Florida State College satellite in the Santa Rosa Beach area have publicly reported a major expansion, with new buildings opening in 2025, doubling dual-enrollment capacity for the district's high schoolers. That is relevant context for families thinking about the full K-12 arc in Walton County. A voter-approved half-mill operating property tax funds district operations including extracurriculars and competitive salaries; it requires periodic renewal by voters, which families moving in would factor into their property tax picture. A separate county-wide infrastructure sales tax referendum failed decisively a few years ago, leaving road and growth-related infrastructure funding unresolved even as development continues.
Housing near the school is expensive, well above both the Florida state median and the national median, and rents are also well above national norms. Values have edged down modestly year over year in the most recent data, but the area remains one of the pricier real estate markets in Florida. For a family relocating to the Santa Rosa Beach area specifically for this school, the housing cost is a material variable.
Detailed locale information about Santa Rosa Beach's walkability, civic anchors, or employment base was not available in the research we conducted, so we left that out rather than approximate.
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