Bonaire Middle School, Bonaire GA

Original Research by School Decision on Bonaire Middle School

Bonaire Middle School serves the unincorporated, rapidly growing community of Bonaire in Houston County, south of Warner Robins. It is a standard public middle school serving grades six through eight, with an enrollment of roughly nine hundred students. The student body is majority white, with substantial shares of Black and Hispanic students, and about four in ten students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.

The school's most recent state test results show a pattern of uneven strength across subjects and grades. In math, proficiency rises through the grade span, climbing from around two-thirds of sixth graders reaching proficiency to roughly three-quarters of eighth graders. English language arts shows more volatility: sixth graders achieve proficiency at a similar rate to their math peers, seventh grade dips to about three-fifths proficient, then eighth grade recovers to about two-thirds. In eighth-grade science, fewer than three-fifths of students reached proficiency. Eighth-grade social studies fared better, with about seven in ten students proficient. A parent may want to look into how the school addresses the softer results in seventh-grade English and eighth-grade science, and whether additional support is available in those areas.

The school sits along GA Highway 96 in a landscape shaped by explosive residential growth. Bonaire has doubled in population over recent decades and is now the fastest-growing part of Houston County, with dozens of new subdivisions under construction along the Highway 96 and Highway 41 corridors. The housing market reflects that momentum; home values are broadly affordable relative to national benchmarks, and rents are climbing year over year. Families here are drawn by newer construction, larger residential lots, and access to a quieter suburban environment than downtown Warner Robins, though Bonaire is built entirely around car travel and has no walkable downtown or public transit. The dominant employer is Robins Air Force Base, located between Warner Robins and Bonaire, making the area home to many military-connected households.

Houston County Schools cut its property tax rate in 2024 and held it again in 2025, the lowest actual millage since an earlier benchmark year, which lowers the tax bill for families buying into the district. The county is funding new schools and facilities through continued E-SPLOST sales tax revenue. A new STEM and Career Academy is breaking ground in 2026 and will open in 2027, offering dual-enrollment pathways in healthcare, cybersecurity, engineering, and other fields. Veterans Middle School, another new facility designed to relieve growing enrollment pressure, is also under construction. For Bonaire Middle School itself, the rapid population growth in the attendance zone means the school is likely to continue drawing from an expanding pool of students, adding capacity pressures that the district is trying to address through new building projects.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 666%

School 66% · District 44% · ▲ 21 pts above district

▲ 34 pts above state median

Grade 768%

School 68% · District 44% · ▲ 24 pts above district

▲ 34 pts above state median

Grade 877%

School 77% · District 56% · ▲ 20 pts above district

▲ 34 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 667%

School 67% · District 49% · ▲ 18 pts above district

▲ 32 pts above state median

Grade 761%

School 61% · District 46% · ▲ 15 pts above district

▲ 26 pts above state median

Grade 865%

School 65% · District 48% · ▲ 17 pts above district

▲ 30 pts above state median

Science

Grade 859%

School 59% · District 39% · ▲ 20 pts above district

▲ 32 pts above state median

Social studies

Grade 870%

School 70% · District 48% · ▲ 22 pts above district

▲ 39 pts above state median

This schoolHouston County, 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 6Lower-income49%Higher-income76%26 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income50%Higher-income76%26 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income57%Higher-income82%25 pp gap

Grades 3-8Lower-income52%Higher-income78%26 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income51%Higher-income77%25 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income53%Higher-income76%23 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income59%Higher-income81%21 pp gap

Grades 3-8Lower-income55%Higher-income78%23 pp gap