St. Petersburg Schools Guide

St. Petersburg public schools, including St. Petersburg, Gibbs and Lakewood high schools, belong to Pinellas County Schools, the district based in Largo and led by Superintendent Kevin Hendrick.

Kevin K. Hendrick has served as Superintendent of Pinellas County Schools since 2022 (Pinellas County Schools), and the district office in Largo answers at 727-588-6000 (PCS). The district home page counts 141 schools district wide and describes Pinellas as the 10th largest school district in Florida (pcsb.org).

The district site links a School Zone Locator and elementary, middle and high school zoning maps for checking which schools serve a St. Pete address (Pinellas County Schools).

Three Digital Towns guides go deeper on St. Petersburg schools: the Pinellas County Schools guide (how the district is run and funded), the St. Petersburg public schools guide (the neighborhood schools inside the city) and the St. Petersburg magnet programs guide (application programs, from the Pinellas County Center for the Arts to the IB Diploma Programme).

Pinellas County Schools, which runs St. Petersburg public schools, reports three consecutive A district grades from the state, with 92 percent of its schools graded A or B and a 93.4 percent graduation rate.

The St. Petersburg High School information page notes that for the third year in a row Pinellas County Schools is recognized as an A district by the Florida Department of Education (St. Petersburg High School), and the superintendent page credits the district with three consecutive A district grades (PCS superintendent). The district home page lists 92% of schools with A or B grades and a 93.4% graduation rate (Pinellas County Schools).

Grades for individual St. Petersburg schools come from the state. The Florida Department of Education posts its 2026 school grades, district grades and a results packet updated September 8, 2026 on its school grades page (Florida Department of Education), the place to check a specific St. Pete school before choosing a zoned school or an application program.

St. Petersburg families apply online through the Pinellas County Schools Focus Parent Portal, and the initial application period for the 2027-2028 school year opens at 12:01 a.m. on January 5, 2027.

Pinellas County Schools lists more than 80 magnet and fundamental programs (Pinellas County Schools). To apply, a parent first creates a Focus Parent Portal account; one user ID covers the whole family, and a St. Petersburg student who plans to stay in the same program at the current school does not need to submit a new application (PCS application page).

The Student Assignment Office takes St. Petersburg application questions at 727-588-6210, and DAP staff answer questions about specific programs at 727-588-6000, extension 1875 or 1871 (Pinellas County Schools). The St. Petersburg magnet programs guide explains the programs themselves.

St. Petersburg High offers the IB Diploma Programme for the south county, Gibbs High hosts the Pinellas County Center for the Arts, and Lakewood High hosts the Center for Advanced Technologies.

St. Petersburg High, 2501 Fifth Ave. N, phone 727-893-1842, is the IB school for the South County Application and Transportation Area (PCS high school programs). The IB Diploma Programme there has students study six subject areas while completing the Extended Essay, Theory of Knowledge, and Creativity, Activity, and Service, and entrance criteria apply.

St. Petersburg High was founded in 1898, its Spanish Revival building dates from 1926, and it enrolls over 1,700 students (St. Petersburg High School).

The school calls itself home to the first International Baccalaureate Diploma Program in Florida, sits on 7 acres in the heart of St. Petersburg, and says its IB diploma rate is consistently above the world average (St. Petersburg High School).

Gibbs High School is at 850 34th St. S, St. Petersburg, phone 727-893-5452 (Gibbs High), and Lakewood High School is at 1400 54th Ave. S, St. Petersburg, phone 727-893-2916 (Lakewood High). The district places PCCA and BETA at Gibbs High and CAT at Lakewood High (Pinellas County Schools). Students entering the fundamental program at Boca Ciega High (South) receive arterial transportation within the boundaries of the high school application areas (PCS high school programs).

Fundamental programs open to St. Petersburg students work on different terms from magnets. The district lists daily homework, a dress code and monthly parent meetings among the requirements, all high school fundamental programs have countywide application areas, and students finishing 8th grade at a fundamental middle school get feeder pattern priority (PCS high school programs). The IB Diploma Programme at St. Petersburg High is described by the district as a rigorous, internationally recognized two-year curriculum.

The St. Petersburg High site also lists the 3DE program by Junior Achievement, Air Force Junior ROTC, a Center for Construction Technologies and Exercise Science and Performance Education alongside IB (St. Petersburg High School).

St. Petersburg public schools opened on Aug. 11, 2026, and the last day for students is May 27, 2027, with six no-school days marked as possible hurricane make-up days.

The Pinellas County Schools 2026-2027 student calendar marks Aug. 11, 2026 as the first day for students and May 27, 2027 as the last day, when students are released two hours early (Pinellas County Schools). For St. Petersburg families, the calendar also flags Oct. 12 and Nov. 11, 2026, and Jan. 4, Feb. 15 (Presidents Day), March 26 and April 23, 2027 as no-school days that are possible hurricane make-up days.

The first quarter for St. Pete students ended Oct. 9, 2026, and Labor Day, Sept. 7, 2026, was a holiday (PCS student calendar).

St. Petersburg high school students can take dual enrollment classes at St. Petersburg College with tuition and textbooks paid by Pinellas County Schools, and the school referendum levies one mill a year through June 30, 2029, which funds a teacher salary supplement.

St. Petersburg College offers college classes to qualified students enrolled full-time in Pinellas County high schools, and the district pays tuition and textbook expenses; Pinellas Technical College, which has a St. Petersburg campus, offers tuition-free dual enrollment as well (PCS dual enrollment).

The Pinellas school referendum levies one mill per year from July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2029 for teachers and support staff, music, art and reading classes and technology. For the 2025-26 school year the referendum page lists a teacher salary supplement of $11,081 and full-time support employees about $2,910 (PCS referendum).

The referendum continues independent committee oversight to make sure funds are spent as voters intended, and changes the millage rate to 1.0 mill, which the district describes as consistent with surrounding counties (Pinellas County Schools). Dual enrollment course grades taken at St. Petersburg College are recorded on the student's high school transcript and on the permanent college transcript (PCS).

To take an academic dual enrollment course at St. Petersburg College, a student needs at least 7 credits in core classes (math, science, English and social studies) and a minimum unweighted cumulative GPA of 3.0; a career dual enrollment course needs the same 7 core credits and a minimum unweighted cumulative GPA of 2.0. Dual enrollment courses offered by a credentialed instructor at a student's own high school must be taken on that high school campus (PCS dual enrollment).

Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the Pinellas County Schools and Florida Department of Education websites.