There were 11 Pacific Islander students enrolled in Rusk County schools in the 2024-25 school year, 22.2% more than the previous year, according to the Texas Education Agency.
Data showed that Rusk County welcomed 10,350 students during the 2024-25 school year. Among them, Pacific Islander students comprised 0.1% of the student body to be the least represented ethnicity in the county.
Among the 27 schools in Rusk County, Overton High School recorded the highest enrollment of Pacific Islander students, with a total of three.
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 | % Pacific Islander students | Total enrollment |
|---|---|---|
| Henderson High School | 0% | 1,018 |
| Kilgore Middle School | 0% | 840 |
| Henderson Middle School | 0.1% | 700 |
| William E. Wylie Elementary School | 0% | 698 |
| Carlisle School | 0% | 646 |
| Kilgore Primary School | 0% | 621 |
| Kilgore Intermediate School | 0% | 531 |
| Chandler Elementary School | 0% | 501 |
| Tatum High School | 0% | 437 |
| Northside Elementary School | 0.2% | 430 |
| Monnie Meyer Wylie Primary School | 0% | 399 |
| West Rusk High School | 0% | 356 |
| Tatum Primary School | 0% | 328 |
| Tatum Middle School | 0% | 321 |
| Tatum Elementary School | 0% | 306 |
| Overton High School | 1.1% | 267 |
| Overton Elementary School | 0% | 256 |
| Mt. Enterprise Elementary School | 0% | 252 |
| Mt. Enterprise High School | 0.8% | 249 |
| West Rusk Middle School | 0.4% | 242 |
| West Rusk Elementary School | 0.5% | 216 |
| West Rusk Intermediate School | 0% | 215 |
| Billy Moore | 0.7% | 140 |
| Laneville School | 0% | 139 |
| Leveretts Chapel Elementary School | 0.8% | 118 |
| Leveretts Chapel High School | 0% | 72 |
| Leveretts Chapel Junior High School | 0% | 52 |
Information in this article was obtained from the Texas Education Agency. The source data can be found here.
