North Coastal News

There were six Pacific Islander students enrolled in Bee County schools in the 2022-23 school year, 20% more than the previous year, according to the Texas Education Agency.

Data showed that Bee County welcomed 5,096 students during the 2022-23 school year. Among them, Pacific Islander students comprised 0.1% of the student body to be the second least represented ethnicity in the county.

Among the 12 schools in Bee County, Pawnee Elementary / Junior High School recorded the highest enrollment of Pacific Islander students in the 2022-23 school year, with a total of four students.

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 Pacific Islander students enrolment	Total enrollment
A. C. Jones High School	0	1,041
Moreno Junior High School	0.1	705
Fadden-McKeown-Chambliss Elementary School	0	562
R. A. Hall Elementary School	0	478
Pawnee Elementary / Junior High School	0.9	465
St. Mary's Academy Charter School	0	381
Skidmore-Tynan Elementary School	0	344
Hampton-Moreno-Dugat Early Childhood Center	0	311
Skidmore-Tynan High School	0.4	237
Pettus Secondary	0	221
Pettus Elementary School	0	180
Skidmore-Tynan Junior High School	0	171