Upper East Texas News

Lamar County schools enrolled 5,539 students who identified as economically disadvantaged in the state during the 2022-23 school year, according to the Texas Education Agency.

Of the 8,584 students enrolled in Lamar County schools, 64.5% were considered economically disadvantaged. This is a 2.8% increase over the previous school year.

Lamar County enrolled the 69th highest number of students identified as economically disadvantaged among Texas counties.

Education in Texas is often a hot button issue, especially as test scores lag behind other states.

"The problems commonly cited are flaws in the school financing system, relatively low teacher salary, poor test performance by students...dropouts from traditional schools in favor of charter schools...gun violence, and mental health issues," claimed the Texas Almanac.

School	Number of Economically Disadvantaged Students	Total Number of Students
Aikin Elementary School	695	937
Paris High School	667	934
Justiss Elementary School	495	552
Crockett Intermediate School	441	560
Paris Junior High School	399	522
North Lamar High School	337	727
Frank Stone Middle School	290	528
Chisum Elementary School	263	593
W. L. Higgins Elementary School	236	351
Blossom Elementary School	230	418
Lamar County Head Start	205	205
Bailey Intermediate School	186	300
Aaron Parker Elementary School	186	265
Cecil Everett Elementary School	172	279
Prairiland Junior High School	141	248
Chisum High School	128	322
Chisum Middle School	121	264
Prairiland High School	113	292
Deport Elementary School	108	141
Givens Early Childhood Center	96	103
Travis High School of Choice	30	43