Upper East Texas News

There were 26 American Indian students enrolled in Cass County schools in the 2022-23 school year, 10.3% less than the previous year, according to the Texas Education Agency.

Data showed that Cass County welcomed 5,435 students during the 2022-23 school year. Among them, American Indian students comprised 0.5% of the student body to be the second least represented ethnicity in the county.

Among the 18 schools in Cass County, only Atlanta High School and Atlanta Primary School enrolled any American Indian students, welcoming four students each in the 2022-23 school year.

Texas is found to be one of the least-educated states in the U.S. A study from WalletHub ranked Texas 41st out of 50 states in terms of the quality of the educational system and how successful students were.

Underfunding is a frequently cited challenge facing the state's school districts. Per-pupil funding has not increased since 2019, despite inflation rates rising by more than 20% since then.

“As a result, many districts in our very own Central Texas region are being forced to cut back on essential programs, services, consider school closures, and adopt deficit budgets just to provide students with the education that they deserve,” Hutto ISD Trustee James Matlock said.

School name	% of American Indian students enrolment	Total enrollment
Atlanta Primary School	0.7	585
Hughes Springs Elementary School	0.2	535
Atlanta High School	0.8	476
Atlanta Elementary School	0.2	449
J. K. Hileman Elementary School	0.5	384
Atlanta Middle School	0.3	369
Linden Elementary School	0.9	340
Hughes Springs High School	0	338
Queen City High School	1	296
Hughes Springs Junior High School	0	276
Morris Upchurch Middle School	0.4	274
Bloomburg School	0	256
Linden-Kildare High School	0.5	187
McLeod Elementary School	0	165
McLeod Middle School	0.7	140
Mae Luster Stephens Junior High School	0	133
Avinger School	2.4	123
McLeod High School	0.9	109