There were 573 Black students enrolled in Upshur County schools in the 2024-25 school year, 4.5% less than the previous year, according to the Texas Education Agency.
Data showed that Upshur County welcomed 7,753 students during the 2024-25 school year. Among them, Black students comprised 7.4% of the student body to be the third most represented ethnicity in the county.
Among the 24 schools in Upshur County, Gilmer High School recorded the highest enrollment of Black students, with a total of 98.
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.
| School name | % Black students | Total enrollment |
|---|---|---|
| Gilmer Elementary School | 8.3% | 1,042 |
| Gilmer High School | 10.9% | 895 |
| Robert F. Hunt Elementary School | 6% | 537 |
| Gladewater High School | 19.4% | 484 |
| Gilmer Intermediate School | 11.8% | 425 |
| Bruce Junior High School | 7.4% | 419 |
| Ore City Elementary School | 3.7% | 377 |
| Union Grove Elementary School | 0.5% | 376 |
| New Diana High School | 9.1% | 330 |
| Big Sandy Elementary School | 10.3% | 320 |
| Harmony High School | 0% | 273 |
| New Diana Middle School | 7.4% | 269 |
| Harmony Elementary School | 0.4% | 263 |
| Harmony Junior High School | 0.4% | 235 |
| Union Grove High School | 1.3% | 232 |
| Ore City High School | 3.2% | 220 |
| Big Sandy High School | 12.6% | 191 |
| Ore City Middle School | 5.2% | 191 |
| Sharon A. Richardson Elementary School | 7.8% | 141 |
| Union Hill High School | 5% | 141 |
| Big Sandy Junior High School | 10.1% | 138 |
| Harmony Intermediate School | 0.8% | 124 |
| Union Grove Junior High School | 0% | 112 |
| Azleway – Big Sandy | 22.2% | 18 |
Information in this article was obtained from the Texas Education Agency. The source data can be found here.
