These Are The Best School Districts In FL, New Ranking Says
FLORIDA — The Seminole County Public Schools district based in Sanford has been ranked as the best in Florida in Niche's 2025 Best Schools and Districts rankings released recently.
The Seminole County district was first among Florida school districts that earned a mention in Niche's ranking of more than 11,000 school districts nationwide.
Niche gave Seminole County Public Schools a letter grade of A. Grades in specific categories were:
The school district, which has 66,680 students in 77 buildings, received high marks from students, parents and teachers.
One student said in a review: "I have attended more than one of the public schools in the area and both were considerably in good shape. The best part of being a student in a public school in Seminole County were the connections I made. ... The worst part of my high school experience with Seminole County Public Schools was probably the testing. I feel as if some of my courses did not prepare me well for standardized state testing. I also believe there could have been better teaching which would have helped with ACT and SAT testing.
The top 25 school districts in Florida and the letter grades assigned by Niche include:
- Seminole County Public Schools : A
- Sarasota County Schools : A
- St. Johns County School District : A
- Clay County School District : A
- Collier County Public Schools : A
- Martin County School District : A
- Okaloosa County School District : A-
- Nassau County School District : A-
- Walton County School District : A-
- Indian River County School District : A-
- Leon County Schools : A-
- Pinellas County Schools : A-
- Miami-Dade County Public Schools : A-
- Alachua County Public Schools : A-
- Lafayette School District : A-
- Orange County Public Schools : A-
- Sumter School District: A-
- Charlotte County Public Schools : A-
- Flagler County Public Schools : A-
- Columbia County School District : A-
- Santa Rosa County School District : A-
- Broward County Public Schools : B+
- Palm Beach County School District : B+
- Bay District Schools : B+
- Hillsborough County Public Schools : B+
The top five school districts nationwide are concentrated in two states, Illinois and New York. They are:
- Adlai E. Stevenson High School District 125 (Illinois)
- Glenbrook High School District 225 (Illinois)
- Evanston Township High School District 202 (Illinois)
- East Williston Union Free School District (New York)
- Syosset Central School District (New York)
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.
