These Are The Best School Districts In Florida, New Ranking Says

FLORIDA — Sarasota County Schools has been ranked as the best in Florida in Niche’s 2024 Best Schools and Districts rankings, which was released this week.

The Sarasota County district was among 70 Florida school districts included in Niche’s ranking of 12,192 school districts nationwide. The list includes 364 newly ranked school districts.

Niche gave Sarasota County Schools a letter grade of A. Grades in specific categories were:

Academics: A
Teachers: B
Clubs and activities: A-
Sports: B+
Resources and facilities: B+
Diversity: A
College prep: A+
Administration: A-
Food: C+

The school district, which has 43,896 students in 62 school buildings, received high marks from students, parents and teachers.

“Being able to study within this district since the second grade has been an honor and a privilege,” one reviewer wrote. “All administrators and teachers definitely have a passion for educating the younger generations and keeping the youth safe.”

Another wrote, “The schools in Sarasota County have taught many aspiring young adults not only simple education but how to be a person. At school, teachers give lessons that need to be learned to be able to succeed in life and valuable information that will be used later on. From my own experience, the school system has brought me to where I am today and I am very proud of who I have become, but I couldn’t have done it alone without the amazing staff and teachers that have brought me up.”

For more information, read the full report on Sarasota County Schools.

The top 25 school districts in Florida and the letter grades assigned by Niche include:

1. Sarasota County Schools, A
2. Saint Johns County School District, A
3. Seminole County Public Schools, A
4. Okaloosa County School District, A
5. Collier County Schools, A
6. Clay County School District, A-
7. Martin County School District, A-
8. Lafayette School District, A-
9. Alachua County Public Schools, A-
10. Walton County School District, A-
11. Indian River County School District, A-
12. Charlotte County Public Schools, A-
13. Nassau County School District, A-
14. Sumter School District, A-
15. Pinellas County Schools, A-
16. Leon County Schools, A-
17. Orange County Public Schools, A-
18. Columbia County School District, A-
19. Flagler County Public Schools, B+
20. Calhoun County School District, B+
21. Miami-Dade County Public Schools, B+
22. Santa Rosa County School District, B+
23. Hillsborough County Public Schools, B+
24. Palm Beach County School District, B+
25. Brevard Public Schools, B+

Niche also ranked 94,058 public schools and 30,809 private schools. The platform said its rankings were created to provide families with valuable information — both quantitative and qualitative — on schools in their area or in a neighborhood they’re not familiar with yet.

Eight Florida public high schools are among the top 50 in the U.S., including Bay District Schools’ Rising Leaders Academy, which landed at No. 14 in the Niche ranking.

The rankings differ from others that rely almost exclusively on test scores and academic performance in that it also includes input from students, alumni and parents, as well as quantitative data from sources such as the U.S. Department of Education to evaluate teachers, resources and facilities.