St. Lucie County Public Schools

Port St. Lucie, Fort Pierce and every other part of St. Lucie County are served by one district, St. Lucie Public Schools, which runs elementary, K-8, middle, high, magnet, virtual and alternative schools and authorizes the county's charter schools.

The St. Lucie Public Schools Student Assignment page describes three elementary and middle school zones that each include portions of Fort Pierce and Port St. Lucie, so a search for Port St. Lucie public schools lands on the same countywide district as a search for Fort Pierce schools. The district home page groups its schools into elementary, K-8, middle, high and 6-12 schools, magnet and non-traditional schools, K-12 virtual schools, alternative education and charter schools (St. Lucie Public Schools home page). Families who live outside the St. Lucie County district but want a St. Lucie Public Schools seat are told to call Student Assignment at (772) 429-3930.

Charter schools in St. Lucie County are public schools run under a charter contract between their own governing board and the School Board. The St. Lucie Public Schools charter page says charter schools hire their own teachers, design their own curriculum and control their own finances, while the district, as charter school authorizer, reviews applications, contracts, renewals and terminations; the page lists each charter school, with a Florida Department of Education report card link where one exists, and notes that Hillcrest Academy Charter School opened in August 2026.

St. Lucie Public Schools lists 16 elementary schools, 11 K-8 schools, 4 middle schools, 6 high schools and Lincoln Park Academy as its 6-12 school, plus virtual and alternative programs.

The counts in the table are a tally of the names in each group on the St. Lucie Public Schools home page. Six schools carry the district's magnet label: Creative Arts Academy of St. Lucie, Fairlawn Elementary, Fort Pierce Westwood Academy, Frances K. Sweet Elementary, Lincoln Park Academy and Samuel S. Gaines Academy of Emerging Technologies.

Two St. Lucie County options sit outside the zone system. The St. Lucie Public Schools directory page describes Mosaic Digital Academy as a choice program open to K-12 students living primarily in St. Lucie County or Martin County, established in 2009 under Florida Statute 1002.45, full time for grades K-5 and part time or full time for grades 6-12. The Performance Based Preparatory Academy is a countywide school for St. Lucie County students ages 16 to 22 who earn high school credits at their own pace toward a Standard High School Diploma; it answers at (772) 468-5880.

St. Lucie Public Schools assigns elementary and middle school students through three regional zones split by Midway Road and Florida's Turnpike, and assigns high school students to a zone school by zip code.

The Student Assignment page names the zones: Green covers everything north of Midway Road; south of Midway Road, Blue lies east of the Turnpike and Red lies west of it. Each zone contains several elementary and middle schools, and the district says regional zones let it avoid redistricting when an area outgrows its neighborhood school. Within a zone, the district gives preference to a family with a sibling enrolled there or a home no more than two miles from the school.

On the St. Lucie Public Schools school directory the district calls this an open-enrollment system in which parents pick from schools close to home and can keep a student at that school through its highest grade unless they choose otherwise. High schoolers already enrolled do not reapply for their zone school; they apply only for the magnet program at Fort Pierce Westwood Academy or an attractor program such as International Baccalaureate or the Marine and Oceanographic Academy (Student Assignment). State law frames the choice process: section 1002.31, Florida Statutes requires each district's controlled open enrollment process to allow sibling preferences, use a lottery with a hardship appeals process, and post school capacity by grade level, updated every 12 weeks, on the district website.

Enrolling in St. Lucie Public Schools is a two-step process: apply online for a school in the family's regional zone, then complete registration at the school once it is assigned.

For step one, the St. Lucie Public Schools Student Assignment page lists what the application needs: the child's original birth certificate, a proof of address, the Social Security card when one is available, custody papers when the child does not live with both natural parents, the previous school's name and address, and a copy of any Individual Education Plan. Step two is online pre-registration and registration at the assigned school, with a physical dated within 12 months before registration and the DH680 Florida Certificate of Immunization. Kindergarten requires a fifth birthday on or before September 1, and the district allows no early entrance. Student Assignment staff help families in French, Spanish, Haitian Creole, Italian, Portuguese and English.

The St. Lucie County windows above are the ones the district posted for the 2026 cycle; the same Student Assignment page lists May 1, 2026 as the date applications reopen, and lists attractor program rounds in December and January. Families confirm their zone on the district's interactive map before choosing an application type, and the page warns applicants for an out-of-zone school such as Legacy High School to choose the Out of Zone form, not the Universal Application.

St. Lucie Public Schools buses run from two compounds, one in Fort Pierce and one in Port St. Lucie, both reached at (772) 204-RIDE (7433), and parents track buses in the Here Comes the Bus app with school code 77914.

The St. Lucie Public Schools Transportation page lists the North Transportation Complex at 601 S. 29th St., Fort Pierce, and the South Transportation Complex at 325 N.W. Commerce Park Dr., Port St. Lucie, and says the department transports over 23,000 students each school year. Every bus carries two-way radios, onboard cameras and satellite tracking. Riders register through the department's online form, and the page also offers a Pay Rider plan, an alternate address form and a non-transportation zone map.

Community bus stops in St. Lucie County are used primarily for magnet schools and schools with attractor programs, and the Transportation page describes them as centralized pickup points serving several neighborhoods. The district states that these stops are not meant to be within walking distance of every student, that parents are expected to get students to them when needed, and that community stops are not moved or added on individual request.

The St. Lucie County School Board meets on the 2nd Tuesday of each month at 5:00 p.m. and holds work sessions on the 4th Tuesday at 9:00 a.m.

The St. Lucie Public Schools district overview page gives that schedule and adds that the Superintendent's Advisory Council meets on the 2nd Monday of each month at 7:00 p.m. The same page links board agendas and minutes, a meeting video archive, board policies, the district boundaries map and the fiscal transparency data the district posts. Programs offered across St. Lucie County schools, listed on the district home page, include Advanced Placement, AICE, International Baccalaureate, Dual Enrollment, Career and Technical Education, JROTC, the Embry Riddle Aerospace Academy and the Marine and Oceanographic Academy, along with Voluntary Pre-K, ESOL and exceptional student education.

This St. Lucie County schools hub covers the district as a whole; the Port St. Lucie and Fort Pierce schools guides go school by school.

Questions about a single campus, such as grades served or programs, belong to the Port St. Lucie and Fort Pierce schools guides, and the Port St. Lucie charter schools guide covers the charter campuses in that city. Applications, zones and the two-step enrollment process are handled through the district's Student Assignment page, and bus registration, the Here Comes the Bus app and community stops through the Transportation page. Last verified: October 22, 2026, from a same-day read of the St. Lucie Public Schools home, school directory, district overview, Student Assignment, Transportation and charter school pages and Florida Statute 1002.31.