There were 5,574 African American students enrolled in Idea Public Schools District in the 2023-24 school year, 3.6% more than the previous year, according to the Texas Education Agency.
Data showed that Idea Public Schools District welcomed 76,819 students during the 2023-24 school year. Among them, African American students comprised 7.3% of the student body to be the second most represented ethnicity in the district.
Idea Public Schools District roughly covers schools within Hidalgo County and has a main office in Weslaco.
Among the 123 schools in Idea Public Schools District, Idea Spears Academy recorded the highest enrollment of African American students in the 2023-24 school year, with a total of 313 students.
A recent study by WalletHub classified Texas as one of the least-educated states in the U.S., ranking it 41st out of 50 in educational quality and student outcomes.
Underfunding is a frequently cited challenge facing Texas’ school districts. According to a 2024 report from the Texas Education Agency, 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 stated in an interview.
| Year | Total District Enrollment | Total of African American Students | African American students % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-24 | 76,819 | 5,574 | 7.3% |
| 2022-23 | 74,217 | 5,380 | 7.2% |
| 2021-22 | 67,988 | 4,811 | 7.1% |
| 2020-21 | 62,158 | 3,937 | 6.3% |
| 2019-20 | 49,480 | 2,371 | 4.8% |
