Button Gwinnett Elementary School, Hinesville GA

Original Research by School Decision on Button Gwinnett Elementary School

Button Gwinnett Elementary serves pre-K through fifth grade in Hinesville, Georgia, within the Liberty County School District. The school enrolls a student body that is majority Black, with roughly a third Hispanic and two-tone enrollment, and a large share of students from military families given Hinesville's location next to Fort Stewart, the largest U.S. Army installation east of the Mississippi River. Substantially more than three-quarters of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a marker of economic need that is typical in military towns where service members' families earn modest salaries relative to local costs.

On state end-of-grade assessments in 2024-25, Button Gwinnett's proficiency rates sit below the state baseline across measured subjects. In English language arts, about one in four students in tested grades (three through five) met proficiency standards. Math proficiency was comparable, with roughly one-quarter of students across those grades meeting the bar. Science showed the school's strongest relative performance among tested subjects, with proficiency just above one-third in fifth grade. These results reflect substantial academic challenge at the school and suggest that students are entering middle school with gaps in foundational reading, writing, and mathematics skills. A parent considering this school should view these numbers as a signal that the school would benefit from close attention to early literacy and numeracy work and may want to ask the school directly about its intervention strategies for students not meeting grade-level benchmarks.

The school is growing. Pre-K enrollment is notably large, reflecting Hinesville's role as a military-adjacent community where young families are common. However, this also means Button Gwinnett is front-loaded with very young students, and the grade-by-grade enrollment tapers as students advance. This pattern is consistent with a school serving a mobile military population where families often transfer out after a year or two.

Hinesville itself is one of the faster-growing areas in Southeast Georgia, with steady housing growth and downtown redevelopment. Median home values are moderate, and rental costs are more affordable than state benchmarks. The city has invested in downtown parks and civic life, including Bryant Commons, and is home to a small historic downtown with dining and weekend events, though the broader character is car-oriented and suburban. Fort Stewart's role as the region's largest employer means the labor market is stable but wages tend to be modest for service members. For families stationed at the base or working in base-adjacent industries, Hinesville offers lower housing costs than comparable military towns and proximity to employment. The school district itself has cut its property tax millage rate since 2020 while growing the tax base, meaning homeowners see lower school taxes even as the district remains adequately funded. A recent local referendum supports school infrastructure and digital resources through a sales tax rather than property tax, again distributing costs across a wider base of residents and shoppers.

Button Gwinnett is a regular public elementary school with no magnet or charter designation. State testing data does not go back beyond the 2024-25 school year available here, so trend information to show whether the school is improving is not present. The school's academic performance relative to other Liberty County schools cannot be computed because Liberty County operates only one school in this size and grade band. A parent should view Button Gwinnett as a school working with a high-need, mobile student population in an economically modest community, with results that indicate the need for strong early intervention and one-on-one support for students not on grade level in core subjects.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 331%

School 31% · District 38% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 9 pts below state median

Grade 418%

School 18% · District 38% · ▼ 21 pts below district

▼ 27 pts below state median

Grade 528%

School 28% · District 31% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 10 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 319%

School 19% · District 26% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median

Grade 425%

School 25% · District 32% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 10 pts below state median

Grade 527%

School 27% · District 34% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median

Science

Grade 533%

School 33% · District 36% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 7 pts below state median

Social studies

Grades 3-886%

School 86% · district not reported

▲ 2 pts above state median

This schoolLiberty 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 3Lower-income19%Higher-income30%11 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income22%Higher-income75%53 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income24%Higher-income56%33 pp gap

Grades 3-8Lower-income22%Higher-income50%28 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income16%Higher-income40%24 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income40%Higher-income67%26 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income18%Higher-income56%38 pp gap

Grades 3-8Lower-income24%Higher-income52%28 pp gap