North Coastal News

Bay City High School had the highest enrollment among Matagorda County schools, welcoming 1,031 students during the 2022-23 academic year, according to the Texas Education Agency report.

Of all the students welcomed in the 2022-23 school year, 52.8% of them were boys, and 47.2% were girls.

Data also showed that the majority of students were Hispanic, representing 67.1% of the Bay City High School total enrollment.

Among the 18 schools in Matagorda County, Bay City Junior High School ranked second in enrollment numbers with 789 students, while Tenie Holmes Elementary School welcomed 780 students and ranked third in the 2022-23 school year.

Bay City High School is a part of Bay City ISD, which roughly covers schools within Matagorda County with its main office in Bay City.

In the previous school year, Bay City High School also had the highest number of students among Matagorda County schools.

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.

More than 5.4 million students are enrolled in public schools across Texas. Nearly one million of them live in rural areas where options for local public schools are few and far between.

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 Name	City	Total School Enrollment
Bay City High School	Bay City	1,031
Bay City Junior High School	Bay City	789
Tenie Holmes Elementary School	Bay City	780
Roberts Elementary School	Bay City	513
Cherry Elementary School	Bay City	466
Palacios High School	Palacios	383
Van Vleck High School	Van Vleck	355
Central Elementary School	Palacios	349
Van Vleck Elementary School	Van Vleck	303
Palacios Junior High School	Palacios	293
Blessing Elementary School	El Maton	284
East Side Intermediate School	Palacios	275
Tidehaven High School	El Maton	274
Markham Elementary School	El Maton	254
Van Vleck Junior High School	Van Vleck	243
Tidehaven Intermediate School	El Maton	233
Van Vleck Intermediate School	Van Vleck	170
Matagorda School	Matagorda	89