Here's The Best School District In Texas: Report

A new report has ranked the best school districts in Texas, and the answer may surprise you. The website 24/7 Wall St., a Delaware corporation that publishes financial news and commentary, sifted through various school data to determine the best school district in every state.

In Texas, the Eanes Independent School District topped the list. The school district has 7,971 students and spends $9,534 per student, the analysis found. The high school graduation rate is 95.1 percent and 78.4percent of adults have a bachelor's degree.

The company evaluated the districts by creating an index based on data in the following categories:

• Child poverty
• Spending per student
• Graduation rate
• Teachers per student
• Percentage of adults with a bachelor's degree
• Preschool enrollment
• Advanced Placement enrollment

Several school districts in the U.S. spend more than $50,000 per student on education each year, 24/7 Wall St. said, but others spend less than $2,000 per student.

"That difference in spending contributes to major disparities in student outcomes throughout the country," the authors wrote. "The majority of a school's budget is spent on staff and teacher salaries. A school that is able to attract the best teachers can give their students a major advantage."

Indeed, wealthier areas often reap those rewards.

Local sources, including property taxes, account for about 44 percent of all school funding in the U.S. This means most of the best school districts are located in affluent counties where the majority of households earn more than double that of a typical American household.

The nationwide rankings report published on Monday follows a January report from the same site that found Texas ranked 40th in the country for best schools.

Here's a breakdown of all Texas schools, according to 24/7 Wall St.:

• High school graduation rate: 89.1 percent (5th highest)
• Public school spending: $8,485 per pupil (4th lowest)
• 8th grade NAEP proficiency: 32.3 percent (math) 28 percent (reading)
• Adults with at least a bachelor's degree: 28.9 percent (22nd lowest)
• Adults 25-64 with incomes at or above national median: 49.3 percent (22nd lowest)

Students in financially stable households with college-educated parents can be at a considerable advantage academically. In Texas, only 52.9 percent of children are raised in households with incomes at least double the poverty level income, a smaller share than the 58.7 percent of children nationwide. Additionally, only 40.8 percent of children are raised by at least one parent with a college degree, well below the 49.6 percent of children nationwide, the report said.

Another disadvantage for public school students in Texas is low funding. The state’s education spending works out to only about $8,485 per student per year, one of the lowest per-pupil expenditures of any state and about $4,000 less than the U.S. average. Despite some disadvantages, some 89.1 percent of high schoolers in Texas graduate with a diploma, well above the 84.1 percent U.S. graduation rate, the authors wrote.

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