Abilene Times

Taylor County schools enrolled 12,038 students who identified as being at risk during the 2021-22 school year, according to the Texas Education Agency.

This is a 17.1% increase over the previous school year.

Of the 23,936 students enrolled in Taylor County schools, 50.3% of them are considered to be at risk.

Taylor County had the 35th highest number of at-risk students 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 at-risk students	Total Number of students
Abilene High School	1,150	2,027
Cooper High School	1,018	1,757
Wylie High School	327	1,358
Wylie East Elementary School	340	935
Wylie West Junior High School	246	888
Mann Middle School	569	864
Craig Middle School	538	834
Madison Middle School	537	826
Long Early Learning Center	206	791
Clack Middle School	474	720
Wylie East Junior High School	184	715
Austin Elementary School	373	681
Taylor Elementary School	364	661
Purcell Elementary School	476	638
Dyess Elementary School	303	595
Texas Leadership of Abilene	365	574
Merkel Elementary School	120	531
Bassetti Elementary School	341	513
Ortiz Elementary School	420	508
Ward Elementary School	284	498
Bowie Elementary School	332	494
Bonham Elementary School	371	493
Alcorta Elementary School	235	473
Martinez Elementary School	357	459
Jim Ned High School	97	434
Stafford Elementary School	328	431
Wylie West Elementary School	115	426
Wylie West Intermediate School	94	417
Lawn Elementary School	82	384
Buffalo Gap Elementary School	107	382
Jim Ned Middle School	104	378
Wylie West Early Childhood Center	67	369
Thomas Elementary School	223	368
Academy for Technology Engineering Math & Science	106	350
Merkel High School	196	327
Merkel Middle School	119	227
Woodson Center for Excellence	156	175
Premier High School of Abilene	158	158
Trent Independent School District	68	138
DAEP	62	66
Day Nursery of Abilene	6	53
Juvenile Detention Center	9	9
Oceans Behavioral Health	5	5
Taylor County Learning Center	4	4
Taylor County Learning Center	2	2