Forest Country News

The majority of students in Polk County districts were white in the 2021-22 school year, according to the Texas Education Agency.

Of the 8,029 students attending Polk County district schools, 59.1% were white. Hispanic students were the second largest ethnicity, making up 25.4% of Polk County districts' students.

In the previous school year, white students still were the most common group in Polk County districts, representing 60.5% of the student body.

Corrigan-Camden ISD and Texas Tech University K-12 had the most diverse student body in the county, including white, American Indian, Black, Asian, Hispanic, Pacific Islander, and Multi-racial.

In the 2021-22 school year, the total number of students enrolled in school districts in the county increased 19.4% compared to the previous year.

The main offices of all districts mentioned in the story are located in cities associated with Polk County.

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	Most prevalent ethnic group	Percent of Total Student Body	Total enrollment
Big Sandy ISD	white	66.4%	532
Corrigan-Camden ISD	Hispanic	42.2%	819
Goodrich ISD	Hispanic	48.4%	244
Leggett ISD	white	68.9%	219
Livingston ISD	white	58.6%	4,023
Onalaska ISD	white	81%	1,215
Texas Tech University K-12	white	58.5%	977