San Antonio-area school district among the most equitable in the state, according to study

A new study has named a San Antonio-area school district as one of the most equitable in Texas.

Floresville ISD — located about 30 miles south of the Alamo City — landed at No. 5  in financial site WalletHub’s new ranking of the most equitable school districts in the state.

So, what does that mean? The study’s authors ranked Texas districts by comparing the household income of their students’ families to how much each district spent per student annually. Districts where household incomes were low but expenditures per pupil was high were considered more equitable.

Using that yardstick, Floresville ISD was the only San Antonio-area school district to make it into the top 100.

While many local residents consider Boerne and Alamo Heights ISDs desirable districts, both scored poorly in equitability, according to the study, landing at No. 942 and No. 772, respectively.

Although the average household income in Boerne exceeds $100,000, the school actually spent less money per student than Floresville ISD, where the average household income is around $30,000 lower than Boerne’s, according to WalletHub’s analysis.

The study named Garland ISD, located outside of Dallas, as Texas’ most equitable district, followed by Rotan ISD and Bryson ISD, both located west of Fort Worth.

Overall, Texas ranked as the state with the 24th most-equitable school districts, according to the report. Iowa topped the list, followed by Arkansas and North Carolina.

Here’s how the San Antonio-area districts included in the study stacked up:

5. Floresville
258. Northside ISD
346. North East ISD
350. East Central ISD
753. San Antonio ISD
772. Alamo Heights ISD
881. South San Antonio ISD
906. La Vernia ISD
942. Boerne ISD

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This article appears in Aug 24 – Sep 6, 2022.