The School District of Lee County’s graduation rate for the Class of 2024 rose to 85.8%, setting a record high for the district since new graduation standards were implemented in 2022, district officials announced.

The 2019-20 graduation rate was artificially inflated by the exemption for seniors from statewide standardized assessment requirements stipulated in state law due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Notable increases for the district are Cypress Lake High School increasing its graduation rate by 5.6 points to 94.3%, Lehigh Senior High School increasing by 3.6 points to 89.2% and Riverdale High School increasing by 3.4 points to 97.6%. Lee Virtual School graduated 100% of its Class of 2024. 

Without charter schools, the graduation rate for the district’s 15 high schools and Lee Virtual School was 93%.

The graduation rate places the county ninth out of the 10 largest school districts in the state, failing to keep up with the 1.7–point increase for the state’s overall graduation rate.