Compiled from official source data by PlainSchools.
10 public K-12 schools in Lake Wales from NCES Common Core of Data: enrollment, grade span, demographics, and Civil Rights Data Collection statistics for every active campus.
According to NCES CCD 2024-25, Lake Wales has more public-school enrollment than 67% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Lake Wales's average Resource Investment Index falls in the lower portion of the 4,487-city comparison set. The index is a resource snapshot, not an academic grade: it reflects the federal staffing, counselor, gifted-program, and attendance fields available for local campuses. The most useful next step is to open the individual schools below and identify which component is pulling each score down, because the same city average can hide very different campus-level constraints.
Combined-grade campuses shape the local portfolio
7 of Lake Wales's 10 listed schools use NCES's combined or “other” grade-level classification. Citywide averages therefore blend campuses serving unusually broad or nonstandard grade spans with conventional elementary, middle, and high schools. Grade configuration is a first-order comparison here, not a minor label.
Governance mix is central to a fair comparison
7 of 10 listed Lake Wales campuses are reported as charters, so district-run and charter records occupy substantial shares of the same city view. They may follow different governance, enrollment, and program structures even when their mailing city matches. The 34-point gap between Bok Academy and Victory Ridge Academy should be read within that context, not as a single-system league table. Check charter status and district affiliation before comparing two nearby schools, and verify current admissions rules with the operator.
City enrollment
Top 33%
School count
Top 41%
Resource Index average
16th percentile
Teacher staffing
19th percentile
Lake Wales Senior High School accounts for 24.4% of all Lake Wales public-school enrollment
That concentration means Lake Wales-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the largest entity. Grade level: High. The share measures enrollment concentration only; it does not establish how districts allocate programs, capital, or staff. Enrollment-weighted aggregates give this entity more weight than any smaller peer, while an unweighted entity average treats every record equally.
Lake Wales school enrollment varies 5.7× across entities
Lake Wales school enrollment ranges from 279 students (lowest) to 1,597 students (highest), a spread of 1,318 students. That relatively narrow ratio reflects an unusually homogeneous school portfolio for a city this size. Per-school staffing and program breadth can differ sharply at opposite ends of that enrollment range, so the city average should not be treated as a typical campus.
The reported share clears the 50% majority mark. Title I operates under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2015), but its statutory allocation uses additional LEA-level counts and rules not represented by this average. This percentage is an economic-need context measure; it does not establish a Title I award, show dollars received, or describe how funds are distributed among campuses.
Lake Wales operates one school district — a single-district system
Lake Wales's listed schools share one district boundary, budget authority, and reporting chain. That makes citywide and districtwide governance easier to compare, but it does not make individual campuses uniform: grade configuration, staffing, programs, and student need can still vary materially within the same school district.
Lake Wales student-teacher ratio is 19.1:1 — high (typically associated with larger urban scale or staffing constraints that have widened the headcount gap)
student-teacher ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE classroom teachers against total enrollment, push-in specialists, English-language aides, special-education co-teachers, and counselors are not included in most reporting Higher values may reflect larger urban scale or recent resource constraints that have widened the gap.
70% of the city's listed public-school campuses are reported as charter schools in NCES CCD. Charter status identifies a different governance arrangement; it does not establish admissions availability, academic quality, or the share of city students enrolled in those campuses. Open each school record to compare enrollment and staffing directly.
Most racially and ethnically mixed schools in Lake Wales
Ranked by the Simpson student-body diversity index (0-100) from NCES race and ethnicity data, where higher means a more evenly mixed student body. It measures mix, not quality.
Which Lake Wales school has the highest Resource Investment Index? ▼
Bok Academy has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Lake Wales schools in this federal-data comparison at 49/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.
How many schools are in Lake Wales, FL? ▼
Lake Wales has 10 public schools with a total enrollment of 6,547 students. 7 are charter schools. Average student-teacher ratio: 19.1:1.
Data from NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 and Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) 2021-22. The Resource Investment Index uses reported student-teacher ratio,
counselor access, gifted programs, and attendance; it is not an academic rating. Cities must include at least five schools to be listed. This public-data comparison is for informational purposes:
verify current enrollment, attendance boundaries, and programs with the school district before acting. See the guide to understanding NCES data.
