Abilene Times

Taylor County schools enrolled 12,469 students who identified as economically disadvantaged in the state during the 2021-22 school year, according to the Texas Education Agency.

Of the 23,936 students enrolled in Taylor County schools, 52.1% were considered economically disadvantaged. This is a 3.1% decrease from the previous school year.

Taylor County enrolled the 36th highest number of students identified as economically disadvantaged among Texas counties.

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.

School	Number of Economically Disadvantaged Students	Total Number of Students
Abilene High School	1,249	2,027
Cooper High School	1,013	1,757
Long Early Learning Center	665	791
Mann Middle School	599	864
Craig Middle School	578	834
Madison Middle School	522	826
Purcell Elementary School	482	638
Clack Middle School	460	720
Ortiz Elementary School	430	508
Martinez Elementary School	398	459
Texas Leadership of Abilene	377	574
Bowie Elementary School	377	494
Taylor Elementary School	376	661
Stafford Elementary School	368	431
Bonham Elementary School	362	493
Bassetti Elementary School	343	513
Austin Elementary School	316	681
Alcorta Elementary School	304	473
Merkel Elementary School	296	531
Dyess Elementary School	278	595
Wylie East Elementary School	247	935
Thomas Elementary School	240	368
Wylie High School	219	1,358
Ward Elementary School	211	498
Wylie West Junior High School	173	888
Wylie East Junior High School	170	715
Merkel High School	139	327
Woodson Center for Excellence	137	175
Academy for Technology Engineering Math & Science	132	350
Lawn Elementary School	119	384
Premier High School of Abilene	113	158
Merkel Middle School	111	227
Wylie West Intermediate School	89	417
Wylie West Early Childhood Center	89	369
Trent Independent School District	89	138
Wylie West Elementary School	77	426
Buffalo Gap Elementary School	74	382
Jim Ned High School	67	434
Jim Ned Middle School	58	378
DAEP	55	66
Day Nursery of Abilene	53	53
Juvenile Detention Center	8	9
Taylor County Learning Center	4	4
Oceans Behavioral Health	2	5
Taylor County Learning Center	0	2