Despite being only one of around 20 counties in Florida with over $400 million in state and local funding for schools, the Marion County School District, which is also the 20th largest in the state, consistently ranked in the bottom fourth of all districts in every grade and subject during this year’s Florida Assessment of Student Thinking test series.
On July 1, Ocala-News.com reported that Marion County student test scores were lower than state averages in English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science for the 2024 FAST test series. The scores ranked the county at or near the bottom in every statistical category.
After the story was published, Ocala-News.com was contacted by two representatives from Marion County Public Schools, including a member of the Marion County School Board, with an official statement from the district regarding the scores.
We published that press release, which stressed “notable improvements” among students, in its entirety on July 2.
Over the past several weeks, Ocala-News.com editorial staff has reviewed dozens of public records to provide additional context on this year’s test scores.
The Florida Department of Education reported that during the 2023-2024 school year, approximately 2,872,309 students enrolled in schools across the state, including 45,547 in Marion County.
Over the year, students from third to tenth grade were administered different tests as part of the FAST test series or the state’s Benchmarks of Excellent Student Thinking test series. Those tests covered four main subjects: English Language Arts (ELA), Mathematics, Science, Social Studies (U.S. History).
In every one of the 19 test score categories measured, Marion County lagged behind the state average and ranked at or near the bottom of all counties.
Across the 19 test score categories, Marion County averaged a rank of 55 out of 75 school districts, only ranking better than 50th in four categories: Mathematics Grade 8 (39th), United States History (39th), English Language Arts Grade 9 (45th), and English Language Arts Grade 10 (47th).
Although there are 67 recognized school districts in the state of Florida, there are several entities that offer testing and record their results. Those institutions, which include the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind and the Idea Public School, are also incorporated into the data compiled by the state.
In Mathematics Grade 3, over 3,600 students took FAST tests in Marion County, and over 215,000 took the same tests across the state. The state average for students who scored a 3 or above was 60%. The average in Marion County was 51%, ranking the county 65th out of 75 school districts.
In ELA Grade 3, over 3,700 students in Marion County were among 216,473 students tested statewide. The statewide average for students who scored a 3 or above was 55%. The Marion County average was 45%, ranking it 66th out of 75.
In ELA Grades 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, the county ranked 55th or worse, and in Mathematics Grades 4, 5, 6, and 7, the county ranked 52nd or worse out of 75.
The county’s biology scores were not much better, with about 60% of the 3,132 students in Marion County earning a 3 or above. That’s compared with 67% of the 214,786 students from 6th to 12th grades that took the test across the state and earned a 3 or above.
In social studies, grades 6th through 12th, around 56% of the 3,455 students in Marion County scored a 3 or above, compared with the state average of 67%.
According to state records, Marion County generated an estimated $413 million from state and local funding for the last school year, making it one of only 21 counties in the entire state whose school district budgets eclipsed the $400 million mark.
The county, which is geographically the fifth biggest in Florida at 1,584 square miles, is also only one of 20 counties in the state with at least 45,000 enrolled students. All other districts have enrollments under 40,000 students.
In many of the test categories measured, Marion County students scored at the same levels as students in counties that are much smaller and have far less state and local funding, like Putnam County (~$90 million) and Gadsden County (~$41 million), which has a tenth of Marion’s budget and enrollment (4,705).
Large counties that also regularly ranked towards the bottom of the test score lists include Polk County, which has a budget of over $1 billion for its schools, and Osceola County, which has a budget of over $660 million for its district.
In the coming weeks, as students return to schools, Ocala-News.com intends to provide greater context to the history of Marion County test scores relative to the rest of the state.