Panhandle Times

Clarendon Elementary School had the highest enrollment among Donley County schools, welcoming 215 students during the 2022-23 academic year, according to the Texas Education Agency report.

Of all the students welcomed in the 2022-23 school year, 52.1% of them were boys, and 47.9% were girls.

Data also showed that the majority of students were white, representing 75.8% of the Clarendon Elementary School total enrollment.

Among the four schools in Donley County, Clarendon High School ranked second in enrollment numbers with 131 students, while Hedley School welcomed 117 students and ranked third in the 2022-23 school year.

Clarendon Elementary School is a part of Clarendon ISD, which roughly covers schools within Donley County with its main office in Clarendon.

In the previous school year, Clarendon Elementary School also had the highest number of students among Donley County schools.

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.

School Name	City	Total School Enrollment
Clarendon Elementary School	Clarendon	215
Clarendon High School	Clarendon	131
Hedley School	Hedley	117
Clarendon Junior High School	Clarendon	88