Panama City Reporter

The only school district in Gulf County experienced a slight decrease in student numbers, falling by 0.1% and welcoming 1,928 students during the 2022-23 academic year, as reported by the Florida Department of Education.

Data also showed that most of the students were white, representing 77.0% of Gulf County School District’s total enrollment.

Gulf County School District has a main office in Port St Joe and is the only school district within Gulf County.

In 2022, Florida had more than 2,8 million students enrolled in a total of 4,202 schools. There were 163,558 teachers in the public schools, or roughly one teacher for every 17 students, compared to the national average of 1:16.

Private school enrolment increased by more than 51,000 students in the 2021-22 school year, which was a notable rebound after the pandemic. In total, there were 416,084 students enrolled, marking the highest enrollment in private schools reported by the Florida Department of Education in 30 years.

According to WalletHub’s analysis, Florida is ranked 9th out of 50 states in terms of its public school quality and safety.

School	Total Enrollment in 2022-23	Total Enrollment in 2021-22	Total % Change
Port St. Joe Elementary School	534	518	3.1%
Port St. Joe High School	512	513	-0.2%
Wewahitchka Elementary School	504	514	-1.9%
Wewahitchka High School	363	373	-2.7%
PreK Ese	15	12	25%