The overall graduation rate for Escambia County has improved over the past nine years, but so has the state graduation rate. Sadly the rate of increase for Escambia County public schools is much less than the state rate. In 2003-2004, there were less than five percentage points separating Escambia County from the state average. That gap has more than doubled stretching to 12.3 percentage points for the 2011-12 school year.
| 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | |
| FLORIDA | 59.2% | 59.3% | 58.8% | 59.8% | 62.7% |
| ESCAMBIA | 54.6% | 54.4% | 53.3% | 54.8% | 53.5% |
| Difference | 4.7% | 4.8% | 5.5% | 5.0% | 9.2% |
| 2008-09 | 2009-10 | 2010-11 | 2011-12 | ||
| FLORIDA | 65.5% | 69.0% | 70.6% | 74.5% | |
| ESCAMBIA | 56.2% | 55.5% | 57.7% | 62.1% | |
| Difference | 9.3% | 13.5% | 12.9% | 12.3% |