Deaf Smith County Education: 23 Black students were enrolled in schools in 2022-23 school year

Texas State Board Of Education Vice Chair Pam Little (2024) | pamlittle.com

By Panhandle Times

Dec 7, 2024

There were 23 Black students enrolled in Deaf Smith County schools in the 2022-23 school year, 4.2% less than the previous year, according to the Texas Education Agency.

Data showed that Deaf Smith County welcomed 4,100 students during the 2022-23 school year. Among them, Black students comprised 0.6% of the student body to be the third most represented ethnicity in the county.

Among the nine schools in Deaf Smith County, Hereford High School recorded the highest enrollment of Black students in the 2022-23 school year, with a total of nine students.

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.

Underfunding is a frequently cited challenge facing the state's school districts. 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 said.

Ethnicities in Deaf Smith County in 2022-23 School Year

Enrollment Demographics in Deaf Smith County Schools During 2022-23 School Year

School name	% of Black students enrolment	Total enrollment
Hereford High School	0.8	1,176
Hereford Junior High School	0.2	599
Northwest Elementary School	1.3	456
Bluebonnet Elementary School	1.2	404
Aikman Elementary School	0	378
West Central Elementary School	0	361
Hereford Preparatory Academy	0.7	299
Tierra Blanca Early Childhood Center	0	279
Walcott Elementary School	0	148