Florida Connections Academy
TEMPLE TERRACE · FL · HILLSBOROUGH · Public charter · K-12 combined
Similar nearby schools
Most similar nearby schools
TAMPA BAY TECH HIGH SCHOOL → ARMWOOD HIGH SCHOOL → STRAWBERRY CREST HIGH SCHOOL → WHARTON HIGH SCHOOL → FREEDOM HIGH SCHOOL → WIREGRASS RANCH HIGH SCHOOL → GAITHER HIGH SCHOOL → STEINBRENNER HIGH SCHOOL →At a glance
- 1 AP courses offered — Moderate
- Gifted & talented program
- AP rigor: Bottom 37% of US high schools
- SAT/ACT participation: Bottom 6% by test-taker volume
- 4-yr grad rate: 52% (2023-24, Florida DOE School Grades)
Composed from federal CRDC offerings, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.
How Florida Connections Academy compares for families
Solid mid-tier academic profile.
- ▸ LocallyFL sits right at the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math — local school quality will set your kid apart.
- ▸ vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: TAMPA BAY TECH HIGH SCHOOL, ARMWOOD HIGH SCHOOL, STRAWBERRY CREST HIGH SCHOOL and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.
For Parents
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Objective, government-grade data — no school pays us for placement.
Academic rigor
AP + advanced-course offerings
Moderate — some AP / advanced course access
Bottom 37% of US high schools
Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). CRDC reports what's offered + enrolled — it doesn't collect AP exam pass rates (College Board owns that data and doesn't release it school-level).
SAT / ACT participation
CRDC federal data · 2020-21Bottom 6% by test-taker volume
Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). Volume — not score — is what's reported here. A higher count means more students at this school are entering the college admissions pipeline. Note: 2020-21 was COVID-disrupted; some districts (especially those that stayed remote longer) report unusually low or zero takers.
Federal Title I context
Mixed-income school
Below Title I eligibility threshold (FRPL < 35%)
25-34% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. Below the federal Title I threshold but a meaningful share of the population is income-eligible for free lunch.
Source: NCES Common Core of Data, free/reduced-price lunch eligibility. The actual Title I designation is a district decision and may differ from eligibility — but the federal eligibility math is what we show here. We don't claim to assert whether the district formally chose to enroll this school in Title I.
Your state's public flagship
University of Florida
The in-state tuition gap is the flagship's biggest draw — most in-state families pay far less than the out-of-state sticker. Average net price after aid runs about $6,541/yr. Admission odds depend on your student's GPA and test scores, not which high school they attend.
Source: IPEDS admissions, tuition & enrollment + College Scorecard net price. Flagship = the state's primary public research university.
Pay for college in Florida
Florida's public scholarships
Florida's Bright Futures pays 75–100% of in-state tuition by tier, based on GPA, test scores, and community-service hours. We built a calculator that checks the exact thresholds for you.
Florida's merit scholarship pays 75–100% of in-state tuition by tier. Use our Bright Futures calculator for the exact GPA, test, and service-hour cutoffs. (Use our Bright Futures calculator for exact GPA, test & service thresholds.)
Check eligibility with our calculator → official program ↗Eligibility rules change yearly — confirm with the official program before relying on it. Amounts are recent published figures; awards cover tuition/fees, not housing or books unless noted. Verified 2026-06-14.
Florida School Grade
Florida's official A–F school grade.
Every Florida public school earns an annual A–F grade from the state — the single signal Florida families (and the housing market) watch most. It rolls achievement, learning gains, graduation, and college/career readiness into one letter.
How does Florida grade a high school? →
A high school's grade is the percent of possible points across up to 11 components — English/math achievement and learning gains, science & social-studies achievement, the 4-year graduation rate, and College & Career Acceleration: the share of graduates who earned college credit (via AP, IB, AICE, or dual enrollment) or an industry certification. Letter cutoffs: A ≥ 62%, B ≥ 54%, C ≥ 41%, D ≥ 32%, F below.
Source: Florida Department of Education, School Grades, 2023-24. Graduation rate & College/Career Acceleration components reflect the prior cohort year, per FLDOE's grading model.
Counselor capacity
Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020-2021. Counselor ratio = the school's most recent total enrollment ÷ counselor FTE. The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommends a 250:1 maximum; the US national median across schools with on-staff counselors is roughly 430:1.
Enrollment trend & projection
Total enrollment + grade 12, NCES Common Core of Data (2021–2024).
If the recent trend holds…
At its recent rate of +1.6%/year, projecting from 2024's 5,748 students:
An extrapolation of the recent trajectory, not a forecast of the school's plans; ignores one-off shocks.
Revenue upside
At $11,710 per student in district revenue, the 470 students projected to be gained by 2029 represent ≈ $5,503,700/year in additional funding.
District total revenue ÷ enrollment, NCES F-33. Public funding largely follows enrollment, so a shrinking class is a recurring budget hit.
Most similar nearby high schools
The schools most like this one — same type, blended on distance and size — and where their enrollment is heading. These are the schools families here weigh against each other.
| School | Type | Miles | HS enrollment | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TAMPA BAY TECH HIGH SCHOOL TAMPA |
Public | 3.8 | 2,181 | +5.2% |
| ARMWOOD HIGH SCHOOL SEFFNER |
Public | 6.4 | 2,278 | +5.1% |
| STRAWBERRY CREST HIGH SCHOOL DOVER |
Public | 9.1 | 2,501 | +3.0% |
| WHARTON HIGH SCHOOL TAMPA |
Public | 6.8 | 2,130 | -3.5% |
| FREEDOM HIGH SCHOOL TAMPA |
Public | 4.9 | 1,869 | +2.2% |
| WIREGRASS RANCH HIGH SCHOOL WESLEY CHAPEL |
Public | 9.3 | 2,218 | +2.6% |
| GAITHER HIGH SCHOOL TAMPA |
Public | 8.0 | 2,040 | -2.5% |
| STEINBRENNER HIGH SCHOOL LUTZ |
Public | 11.5 | 2,396 | -4.4% |