Indian River County Public Schools Guide

Six Digital Towns school guides go deeper than this hub, and each one applies to families in Sebastian, Vero Beach, Fellsmere and the unincorporated county alike.

They are the enrollment and registration guide, the bell times guide, the school bus transportation guide, the school calendar guide, the school meals guide and the VPK and early learning guide. The table below sends each common question to the guide that answers it, with the key fact for Sebastian, Vero Beach and Fellsmere students already filled in from the district's own 2026-2027 documents.

The School District of Indian River County runs the traditional public schools its directory lists for Sebastian, Vero Beach and Fellsmere (school directory).

Its office is the J.A. Thompson Administrative Complex at 6500 57th Street, Vero Beach, 772-564-3000 (Parent Guide).

For 2026-2027 the district counts eight elementary schools, four K-8 schools, three middle schools, two high schools, an alternative education center, an exceptional student education school, a technical college, five charter schools and a virtual school (Parent Guide district overview). The two district high schools are Sebastian River High School at 9001 Shark Boulevard in Sebastian (school directory) and Vero Beach High School at 1707 16th Street in Vero Beach (school directory).

Vero Beach holds most of the remaining campuses: Beachland, Citrus, Dodgertown, Indian River Academy and Vero Beach elementary schools, Liberty Magnet and Osceola Magnet, Rosewood Magnet School for kindergarten through grade 8, and Gifford Middle and Vero Beach Middle (directory). Treasure Coast Technical College at 4680 28th Court, Vero Beach, handles adult education and dual enrollment, and Indian River Virtual School shares the 8895 U.S. Highway 1 address used by Wabasso School (directory).

New students in Sebastian, Vero Beach and Fellsmere are enrolled online through the district's Focus Parent Portal, where the student enrollment application is always available (Parent Guide enrollment page).

In Sebastian, Vero Beach and Fellsmere alike, a child must be 5 on or before September 1 to start kindergarten, and a first grader new to the district must be 6 by September 1 with proof of a completed kindergarten program (Parent Guide). The district asks for a birth certificate or other state-approved proof of birth, a driver's license or other photo ID, proof of a school physical completed less than 1 year from the school start date, the Certificate of Immunization (DOH form 680), emergency contacts, and a lease or mortgage plus two current utility bills showing the parent's name and address. A student transferring into Indian River County is excluded from school if immunizations are not up to date, physicals have expired or are incomplete, or records have not been submitted by the 30th school day after the transfer.

School choice runs on a yearly window: the SDIRC School Choice application for the next school year opens November 1 and stays open to the end of June, a parent needs a Focus account linked to the student, up to three choice schools may be listed, and families have ten days after the lottery to accept or decline (Parent Guide). A practical point for a Fellsmere or Sebastian family weighing a Vero Beach magnet program: choice students are assigned a depot bus stop that is not within walking distance of home, so a parent has to get the child to and from it (bus handbook).

Students at Sebastian, Vero Beach and Fellsmere schools started the 2026-2027 year on Monday, August 10, 2026, and their last day is Friday, May 28, 2027 (2026-2027 instructional calendar).

The School Board unanimously approved the current start and dismissal times on February 23, 2026: high schools such as Sebastian River High run 7:20 a.m. to 2:07 p.m., middle and K-8 schools 8:10 a.m. to 2:51 p.m., and elementary schools 9:00 a.m. to 3:40 p.m. (district announcement). Wabasso School keeps its own 8:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. day and IR Prep in Vero Beach runs 9:00 a.m. to 3:40 p.m.; on modified days elementary schools let out at 1:50 p.m., middle and K-8 schools at 1:00 p.m. and high schools at 12:20 p.m. (Parent Guide schedules).

Future calendars are shaped by the Instructional Calendar Committee, whose last fall 2026 meeting is Thursday, November 12, 2026, from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. at the District Office on 57th Street in Vero Beach (district notice).

A student living 2 or more miles from the home zone school gets a bus stop within walking distance, whether home is in Sebastian, Fellsmere, Gifford or Vero Beach (Parent Handbook for School Bus Transportation).

That rule comes from the district's bus handbook whose state funding survey dates run from July 2025 to June 2026. Students in kindergarten through grade 6 at a K-8 school such as Rosewood Magnet or Pelican Island Classical Magnet who live under 2 miles away get a stop when they live in an identified hazardous walk area, and school choice students in Sebastian, Fellsmere and Vero Beach are assigned depot stops that are not within walking distance of home (bus handbook). Riders tap their school-issued student ID on the bus ZPASS reader when boarding and leaving; the first ID, lanyard and cover are free and a lost one costs $7 to replace.

Buses do not run to a babysitter, day care, a grandparent's home or a parent's workplace, and students in Sebastian, Fellsmere and Vero Beach are expected at the stop at least 10 minutes before the estimated morning arrival (bus handbook). The final 2026-2027 budget includes the purchase of 10 school buses (district budget announcement).

For 2026-2027 a full-price lunch costs $3.00 in Indian River County elementary schools and $3.25 in middle and high schools from Sebastian to Vero Beach, and breakfast is $2.00 at every level (Food Services prices).

Reduced-price meals in Sebastian, Fellsmere and Vero Beach schools are $0.30 for breakfast and $0.40 for lunch, adults pay $3.50 for breakfast and $5.00 for lunch, and the district states that fried foods are not served (Food Services).

The district runs full-day VPK of 540 hours at Beachland, Dodgertown, Fellsmere, Indian River Academy, Pelican Island Classical Magnet, Sebastian and Vero Beach elementary sites; a child must be 4 on or before September 1, there is no transportation, and the lottery application starts with a call to Early Learning Programs at 772-564-6091 (Parent Guide VPK page). On-time applications run from the second Monday in January to the last Friday in March, and summer VPK of 300 hours is held for six weeks in June and July at one North County site and one South County site.

Families choosing another VPK provider work with the Early Learning Coalition of Indian River, Martin & Okeechobee Counties, whose Indian River County office is at 2459 St. Lucie Avenue (14th Ave.), Vero Beach, 772-220-1220, weekdays 8:00 to 5:00 (coalition locations). Registration runs through Florida's Early Learning Family Portal with the child's original birth certificate, the legal guardian's ID and proof of Florida residence, a PO Box does not count, and approved families download a Certificate of Eligibility to take to any VPK provider (coalition VPK page).

The district earned its fourth consecutive A grade in the July 1, 2026 release, with 23 of 24 traditional schools rated A, including Pelican Island Classical Magnet School in Sebastian (district school grades release).

Citrus Elementary School, Oslo Middle School and Pelican Island Classical Magnet School each moved from a B to an A, and every charter school earned an A (district release). The district's own 2026-2027 Parent Guide still describes an A rating for three consecutive years, wording written before the July grades, so the Sebastian and Vero Beach figure to trust is the newer release (Parent Guide page 7).

The final 2026-2027 budget, announced October 1, 2026, totals $434.3 million across all funds, with a $247.6 million General Operating Fund of which about 74 percent goes to instruction; it lists roof replacements at Gifford Middle School and Sebastian River Middle School, districtwide air conditioning and safety work, and $4 million for technology (district budget announcement). Grade spans are also shifting: Fellsmere Academy, Osceola Magnet in Vero Beach and Pelican Island Classical Magnet in Sebastian serve up to grade 7 this year and are listed as K-8 by 2027-2028 (school directory). A smaller naming detail: the VPK page still says Fellsmere Elementary, while the school directory lists the campus at 50 N. Cypress Street as Fellsmere Academy (VPK page).

Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the School District of Indian River County website, for the Sebastian, Vero Beach and Fellsmere school pages and documents cited here.