East Central Texas News

Anderson County schools enrolled 5,624 students who identified as economically disadvantaged in the state during the 2022-23 school year, according to the Texas Education Agency.

Of the 8,188 students enrolled in Anderson County schools, 68.7% were considered economically disadvantaged. This is a 4.7% increase over the previous school year.

Anderson County enrolled the 66th highest number of students identified as economically disadvantaged 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 Economically Disadvantaged Students	Total Number of Students
Palestine High School	766	998
Story Intermediate School	542	673
Palestine Junior High School	386	493
Southside Elementary School	379	447
Northside Primary School	374	465
Westwood High School	303	438
Westwood Elementary School	302	408
Westwood Primary School	290	363
Frankston Elementary School	235	373
Elkhart Elementary School	224	327
Washington Early Childhood Center	203	221
Elkhart Intermediate School	178	282
Westwood Junior High School	158	205
Elkhart Middle School	154	270
Elkhart High School	148	315
Slocum PK - 8	146	256
Cayuga Elementary School	141	257
Frankston High School	122	245
Frankston Middle School	115	184
Neches Elementary School	108	170
UT Tyler University Academy at Palestine	97	228
Cayuga Middle School	78	166
Cayuga High School	76	171
Neches High School	66	140
Slocum High School	33	93