INDEPENDENCE ACADEMY

INDEPENDENCE ACADEMY operates as a medium-sized elementary campus in DOVER, Florida, one of the schools within HILLSBOROUGH. Current enrollment sits at 811 students spanning grades K through 8. Compared to the state average of about 604 students per school, that is 34% bigger than typical.

HILLSBOROUGH runs 300 schools in total, collectively educating 221,318 students. INDEPENDENCE ACADEMY is one of those campuses.

On the student-mix side, INDEPENDENCE ACADEMY lists that the largest single group is White at 53%, but no single group is in the majority. Beyond that, the school shows 33% Hispanic, 7% Black, 4% multiracial, 2% Asian. Compared to Hillsborough County overall, the school's racial mix sits in roughly the same range.

In terms of school funding signals, Staff filings list 40 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 20.3:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 17.5:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. Around 16% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, often used as a Title I proxy. By comparison, Hillsborough County runs at roughly 43%, so the school's eligibility rate is lower than the surrounding baseline.

After controlling for student poverty, INDEPENDENCE ACADEMY is in the bottom 10% of Florida public schools. The BeatsExpectations model predicts schools with this FRL share to land around 73.3%; INDEPENDENCE ACADEMY posts 56.3%, -17.0 points below that line.

Zooming out to the county, community-level numbers for Hillsborough County indicate median household income runs about $79,540, 38% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 9%. INDEPENDENCE ACADEMY is one of 320 public schools in Hillsborough County (combined enrollment of about 223,193 students).

The closest other public school is BAILEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, roughly 0.4 miles away. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around INDEPENDENCE ACADEMY. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts INDEPENDENCE ACADEMY at 2nd of 6; the average score across the group is 45.4%.

INDEPENDENCE ACADEMY operates from a commuter-belt location. INDEPENDENCE 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. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at INDEPENDENCE ACADEMY has ticked down 9%, going from 894 students in 2018 to 811 in 2025. The White share of enrollment declined from 72% to 53% over that span. The student-to-teacher ratio grew from 13.3:1 in 2018 to 20.3:1 today.

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