HILLTOP ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

HILLTOP ELEMENTARY SCHOOL operates as a close-knit elementary campus in WAUCHULA, Florida, overseen by HARDEE. Current enrollment sits at 298 students spanning grades pre-K through 5. Enrollment runs roughly 51% smaller than the state mean of about 604.

HARDEE runs 9 schools in total, collectively educating 4,547 students. HILLTOP ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is one of those campuses.

Looking at the student body, HILLTOP ELEMENTARY SCHOOL shows that the largest single group is Hispanic, at 71% of enrollment. Beyond that, the school shows 19% White, 6% Black, 2% multiracial. By comparison, Hardee County as a whole is about 42% Hispanic, so the school skews meaningfully more Hispanic than its surroundings.

On the resource side, HILLTOP ELEMENTARY SCHOOL records 19 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 15.7:1. The state averages around 17.5:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. About 77% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, HILLTOP ELEMENTARY SCHOOL performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 42.7%, the actual is 43.7%, a residual of +1.1 points.

Zooming out to the county, the surrounding county (Hardee County) logs that the typical household earns roughly $60,489 per year, about 12% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and the poverty rate sits near 20%. In all, Hardee County runs 11 public schools (combined enrollment of about 4,547 students), of which HILLTOP ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is one.

The closest other public school is HARDEE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL, roughly 0.0 miles away. Counting just inside five miles, 7 other public schools cluster around HILLTOP ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts HILLTOP ELEMENTARY SCHOOL at 6th of 7; the average score across the group is 49.3%.

The campus sits in a small-town setting.

Trend over the last 7 years. HILLTOP ELEMENTARY SCHOOL's enrollment has contracted 16% since 2018, when it stood at 356 (now 298). Over the same period, the Black share rose from 1% to 6%. Class-load math has loosened: from 12.7:1 in 2018 to 15.7:1 in 2025.

On this page, members of the HILLTOP ELEMENTARY SCHOOL community share and discuss fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.