Lake County Schools students improve in core subjects. What we know

July 2, 2025

in Industry,

With education news focusing lately on budget shortfalls, teacher firings and book bans, Lake County Schools is celebrating academic gains in the latest state assessment results released last week by the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE).

Lake students showed improvement in all tested areas: English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies, according to a press release from LCS.

The 19th largest school district in Florida serves around 43,000 students across 50 locations. LCS's instruction includes traditional public schools, charter schools, a virtual school and other specialty schools.

In a June 30 speech at The Villages, Gov. Ron DeSantis promised a pay raise to teachers and law enforcement amid federal budget cuts to education.

Among the achievements was a 15 percentage point increase in Algebra 1 proficiency. A 7 percentage point increase in English Language Arts in grades 9 and 10 and an overall increase in English Language Arts of 4 percentage points were also noted.

Students also showed a 4 percentage point increase on the civics end-of-course exam.

The district attributes the success to several key initiatives:

Teacher collaboration through professional learning teams.
An intensive focus on grade and/or course standards that define what a student must know and be able to do to achieve mastery.
Data-driven instruction to identify and address learning gaps.

How much have students improved over the last year?

English Language Arts (2024-25)

Overall ELA: +4 percentage points

Grades 3-5: +4 percentage points

Grades 6-8: +5 percentage points

Grades 9-10: + 7 percentage points

Mathematics (2024-25)

Overall Mathematics: +4 percentage points

Grades 3-5: +4 percentage points

Grades 6-8: +2 percentage points

Algebra 1 EOC: +15 percentage points

Science (2024-2025)

Grade 5: +3 percentage points

Grade 8: +2 percentage points

Biology 1 EOC: +4 percentage points

Social Studies (2024-25)

Civics EOC: +4 percentage points

U.S. History EOC: +2 percentage points

How Lake will 'build on this momentum'

“These results are a testament to the incredible work happening in our classrooms every day,” said Superintendent Diane Kornegay in LCS's media release. "To build on this momentum, Lake County Schools has new plans for the 2025-2026 school year."

This summer, the district's professional development workshops will be focused on "instructional strategies, curriculum alignment and data-driven planning."

They also plan to engage school leaders and teacher teams in collaborative planning sessions to review student data and identify essential learning standards by course and grade level.

Mentorship and continuous education opportunities in partnership with Lake-Sumter State College and the University of Central Florida for teachers and staff are also in the works.

Can this success continue?

Lake County Schools is projecting a $8 million shortfall for next school year, reported Fox 35 in recent weeks.

"Because of the anticipated shortfall in funding from the state, we are leaving some vacant positions open for next school year and, where we can, we are using funding from other sources to help make up for the loss," a district spokesperson told the news station.

Among those "other sources," Lake County Education Foundation supports Lake County Schools through philanthropic donations, campaigns and events.

The foundation is hosting the Lake County version of "Dancing with the Stars" at the Venetian Center on Friday, July 25, and Saturday, July 26, to help raise money for the teachers and students in Lake County Schools.

Achieving K-12 academic success today comes with both challenges and opportunities. Strained budgets, artificial intelligence and growing cybersecurity threats present new hurdles and paradigm shifts along with ongoing instructional watchdogging.

According to the National Education Association, President Trump's budget proposal would slice $12 billion from the Department of Education, eliminate many K-12 and higher education programs, but Education Secretary Linda McMahon says it “is responsibly winding down.”

Kornegay sent a statement to the Daily Commercial responding to the potential challenges:

"As we plan for the upcoming school year, one of our greatest challenges will be finding solutions to the funding issues that have resulted from declining student enrollment due to the growth of the Family Empowerment Scholarships and a declining birth rate in Lake County, even at a time of rapid growth.

"Fortunately, Lake County Schools has positioned itself with a strong financial footing that will help us ensure that budget reductions will not impact the many great programs and services we provide our students.

"The past few years, we have been strategic in our use of federal relief funds and have not invested in recurring expenses. This allowed us to lower class sizes even beyond the maximum class sizes for core courses. Our goal remains not to exceed the school-wide averages as permitted when computing class sizes.

"Every year, we have teachers and staff who retire or leave for various reasons; therefore, we expect to hire fewer staff members for the upcoming year. Teachers and staff may have to move to a different school or position within the district, but we have been able to offer jobs to all current employees who wanted one.”

For more news and information about Lake County Schools, visit lake.k12.fl.us.

https://www.dailycommercial.com/story/news/education/2025/07/01/gains-by-lake-county-students-in-2024-25-will-this-success-continue/84415031007/

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Lake County Schools students improve in core subjects. What we know

How much have students improved over the last year?

How Lake will 'build on this momentum'

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