Escambia, Santa Rosa and Okaloosa earn A grades as Northwest Florida goes back to school – WEAR-TV

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by Claire O'Neil
PENSACOLA, Fla. — Next week, hundreds of thousands of children go back to school all across Northwest Florida.
Governor Ron DeSantis touted what he calls education successes in the state.
Governor Ron DeSantis says for the first time ever, more than 60% of Florida students are performing above grade level in both English and math.
It's not just students who are succeeding. Schools are also performing well.
"76% of all schools earned an A or B grade in 2025 and 2026, and that's a 5% increase from 2024-25, and 60% of all schools maintained an A or improved their grade from the prior year, and then five districts improved from B to A, and two improved from C to B," Governor Ron DeSantis said.
Those improvements could be seen in the 2025-2026 school year in Northwest Florida.
Escambia, Santa Rosa, and Okaloosa County school districts all received an 'A' grade in the state's latest report cards.
"We are very proud of our students, the work that our teachers and school-based administrators did, and all of our support staff to be able to reach that goal, which is quite an accomplishment," Escambia County Schools Superintendent Keith Leonard said. "It's high-quality performance by those teachers; it is students showing up every day eager and willing to learn and doing so and then excelling on those tests."
DeSantis says when it comes to teachers — improving pay has been a priority.
Since 2019, the state has invested more than $7 billion to help increase salaries.
While the governor touts Florida's success, there are reports that show the state's education system in a very different light.
Earlier this year, the "Network for Public Education" ranked Florida dead last for public school funding.
This was the third year in a row the state came in at the bottom of the list.
The report argues school choice programs are diverting money away from traditional public schools.
DeSantis also touched on Florida's success of a 92.2% graduation rate for high school students.
You can find more information regarding DeSantis's report on our website.
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