BELMONT ACADEMY

Set in LAKE CITY, Florida, BELMONT ACADEMY is a sprawling combined-grade school, overseen by COLUMBIA. It enrolls 828 students across grades pre-K through 12. Compared to the state average of about 353 students per school, that is 135% larger than typical.

Within COLUMBIA, which oversees 16 schools and 9,815 students, BELMONT ACADEMY is one campus in the system.

For racial and ethnic makeup, BELMONT ACADEMY logs that the largest single group is White, at 77% of enrollment. Beyond that, the school reports 12% Hispanic, 6% multiracial, 3% Black, 2% Asian.

On the income-and-resources front, On paper, BELMONT ACADEMY has 40 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 20.7:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 17.7:1 average. Roughly 39% of students at BELMONT ACADEMY qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. By comparison, Columbia County runs at roughly 55%, so the school's eligibility rate is lower than the surrounding baseline.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, BELMONT ACADEMY sits in the top 10% of Florida schools after the BeatsExpectations adjustment. Predicted proficiency for the school's FRL share is roughly 61.9%; actual is 82.5%, +20.7 points clear of the demographic baseline.

Across the wider county, Columbia County reports that the typical household earns roughly $59,205 per year, about 17% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and roughly 11% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across Columbia County's 19 public schools (combined enrollment of about 9,815 students), BELMONT ACADEMY is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: COLUMBIA CITY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, around 1.0 miles off. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a ten-mile radius, suggesting a relatively low-density school footprint. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts BELMONT ACADEMY at 1st of 8; the average score across the group is 56.3%.

The campus sits in a rural setting. BELMONT ACADEMY operates as a public charter school, meaning it is publicly funded but governed independently of the surrounding district's traditional schools.

Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count expanded 80%: 460 students in 2018 compared to 828 in 2025. The White share of enrollment declined from 86% to 77% over that span. The student-to-teacher ratio widened from 16.4:1 in 2018 to 20.7:1 today.

Within the allk12 community for this school, recent activity here tends to focus on sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.