FORT KING MIDDLE SCHOOL

FORT KING MIDDLE SCHOOL is one of the middle-of-the-pack junior highs in OCALA, Florida, operated by MARION, with 918 students on its rolls from grades 6 through 8.

Across the 62 schools in MARION (46,349 students total), FORT KING MIDDLE SCHOOL accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

Looking at the student body, FORT KING MIDDLE SCHOOL shows that 41% of students identify as White, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups; the rest is composed of 28% Hispanic, 25% Black, 5% multiracial. By comparison, Marion County as a whole is about 69% White, so the school skews visibly less White than its surroundings.

On the income-and-resources front, On paper, FORT KING MIDDLE SCHOOL has 47 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 19.5:1. That tracks the state average closely. About 63% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), FORT KING MIDDLE SCHOOL sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 49.5%; this one delivers 39.7%.

In the surrounding community, census data for Marion County shows median household earnings sit near $61,010, roughly 23% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 10%. FORT KING MIDDLE SCHOOL is one of 68 public schools in Marion County (combined enrollment of about 46,349 students).

MARION COUNTY ACCELERATION ACADEMY is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.4 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around FORT KING MIDDLE SCHOOL. Among the 4 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), FORT KING MIDDLE SCHOOL ranks 3rd on composite proficiency, behind the local average of 57.6%.

The campus sits in a downtown setting.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count shrank 17%: 1,109 students in 2018 compared to 918 in 2025. White enrollment moved from 51% to 41% across the same window. The student-to-teacher ratio widened from 17.1:1 in 2018 to 19.5:1 today.

On this page, members of the FORT KING MIDDLE SCHOOL community share and discuss classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. The community welcomes input from current and former families.