Longview Times

Kilgore ISD had the highest enrollment among Rusk County districts, welcoming 3,887 students during the 2021-22 academic year, according to the Texas Education Agency report.

Out of the total students welcomed in the 2021-22 school year, 52.4% of them were boys, and 47.6% were girls.

The most represented ethnicity among Kilgore ISD students was white, accounting for 44.7% of the student population.

Among the nine districts in Rusk County, Henderson ISD ranked second in enrollment numbers with 3,414 students, while Tatum ISD welcomed 1,475 students and ranked third in the 2021-22 school year.

Kilgore ISD generally encompasses schools within Rusk County with its main office in Kilgore.

In the previous school year, Kilgore ISD had the highest number of students among Rusk County districts.

Texas is found to be one of the least educated states in the U.S. A study from WalletHub ranked Texas 41st out of 50 states in terms of the quality of the educational system and how successful students were.

More than 5.4 million students are enrolled in public schools across Texas. Nearly one million of them live in rural areas where options for local public schools are few and far between.

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.

District	City (Main Office)	Total enrollment
Kilgore ISD	Kilgore	3,887
Henderson ISD	Henderson	3,414
Tatum ISD	Tatum	1,475
West Rusk County Consolidated ISD	New London	1,038
Carlisle ISD	Henderson	608
Overton ISD	Overton	474
Mount Enterprise ISD	Mount Enterprise	467
Leveretts Chapel ISD	Overton	245
Laneville ISD		156