Austin, Texas is an amazing place to move to if you have kids as it has 19 public school districts. Each district has a wide range of elementary, middle, and high schools for you to choose from. This can make it difficult to decide where to send your kids. We’re here to help! Here are the best public school districts in the Austin area.
Table of Contents
Austin Independent School District
The Austin Independent School District has 116 schools. It has a student population of over 73,000. This makes it the largest district in Austin and the 8th largest public school district in Texas.
Location
As the main school district in Austin, most of the schools are in the heart of the city. The district covers 172.4 square miles of the city and suburbs.
The Austin Independent School District has 78 elementary schools, 20 middle schools, and 17 high schools. Some of these schools are located on the same campus. The district also has locations for preschools, an alternative school, early college high schools, and a career development school.
Academics
With a 15 to 1 student-to-teacher ratio, students can be closely guided by teachers. This allows high academic ratings for the Austin Independent School District.
The district has a 93% graduation rate. For national testing, the district scores are fairly high. They have an average SAT of 1240 and an average ACT score of 27. Both of these scores are above the national average.
All of the high schools in the district offer Advanced Placement classes for students to take. These classes allow students to gain college credit while still in high school. In Texas, students must receive a three on the final exam to earn college credit.
Unique Feature
The LBJ Fire Academy is a part of the Austin Independent School District. They provide high schoolers with firefighter and EMT training. After completing the program students are prepared to take the certification tests.
The program takes on place Saturdays throughout student’s junior and senior years of high school. During junior year, the focus is firefighter training. Then during the end of senior year, they focus on EMT training. Students in the program can also receive up to 12 college credits for Firefighter Protection Technology.
Eanes Independent School District
The Eanes Independent School District is home to 7,834 students. Students are spread out between 10 different schools. The district makes it their goal to meet the needs of all their students.
Location
The district is in the unincorporated town of Travis County, Texas. It covers part of the Greater Austin area. Being part of West Austin, it also brings in a lot of students from the surrounding countryside.
Eanes Independent School District has three elementary schools, two middle schools, one high school, and one adult transition school in Austin. All of these schools are spread out on the west side of Austin.
Looking to move soon?
Check out UniMovers and save 30-50% on your move as compared with traditional moving!
Academics
This district has a graduation rate of 99%. They are also very well known for their high academic standing.
The school does an amazing job at preparing students for continuing their education. Both their average ACT score and SAT score were well above the state averages. In addition, the schools also encourage students to take AP classes. In 2023, 90% of students who took AP exams scored a three or better.
Most students in the district plan on attending college after graduation. In 2023, 94.8% of the graduates planned on attending some form of college after graduation.
Unique Feature
Epicure Academy is a culinary experience the Eanes Independent School District offers. These are 50-minute classes students take every day during school. During these classes, they participate in hands-on food labs.
The focus of these labs is exposing students to the culinary industry and different food cultures. Students learn both how to manage restaurants and how to prepare different foods. They often have guest speakers such as chefs and local restaurant owners. Students walk away from this class knowing how to safely run a restaurant and prepare delicious dishes.
Leander Independent School District
The Leander Independent School District has 44 different schools spread throughout 200 square miles. They’re known as one of the fastest-growing school districts in Austin. They have 42,000 students and get around 1,000 new students each year.
Location
Located in the Northwest portion of Austin, the district covers multiple towns. They cover parts of Travis County and Williamson County. This includes small towns outside of Austin and the countryside surrounding Austin.
The Leander school district has 29 elementary schools, nine middle schools, and six high schools near Austin. They also have four alternative schools which are a mix of in-person and online learning. Nine of these schools are located directly in Austin. The remaining schools are slightly outside of the city in the surrounding small towns.
Academics
Leander Independent School District is another Austin school district that is well-known for its academics. The school has a 97% graduation rate.
Their average test scores tend to be at or above the state average. 54% of students perform at or above the state standard for reading. 50% of students perform at or above the standard for math. Students also excel in ACT and SAT testing. Both average scores are well above the state average.
Unique Feature
The Leander district offers a program called COOL Experiences. These experiences are meant to help high school students get an insight into different careers. The program seeks to explore, connect, and inspire students.
COOL Experiences are offered both virtually and in person. They range from talking to business owners to job shadowing. Students can get out in the community and interact with local businesses. This allows students to get an idea of what career they want before they head off to college.
Pflugerville Independent School District
Pflugerville Independent School District is home to over 25,000 students. They have 34 different campuses throughout Austin and its surrounding towns. Their goal is to provide innovative opportunities for all of their students to learn and succeed.
Location
The Pflugerville school district covers 95 square miles near Austin. The district is part of six different towns: Pflugerville, Austin, Coupland, Hutto, Manor, and Round Rock.
This district is on the outskirts of northeast Austin. It has 21 elementary schools, seven middle schools, four high schools, and two alternative schools near Austin. While more in the country and small towns, this district is constantly growing. The Pflugerville district is constantly looking at increasing its locations to fit with the expansion of the nearby towns.
Academics
The Pflugerville Independent School District has an average standing for academics. The district has an average ACT score of 25 and an average SAT score of 1160. These scores are slightly above the state average.
The high schools also offer AP classes for high school students to take. 32.9% of students took and passed AP exams while in high school.
Unique Feature
The Austin area is home to people of many different cultures and backgrounds. For this reason, the Pflugerville district offers a dual language program in multiple of its elementary schools. These programs allow non-English speakers to slowly learn English.
They have two different styles of this program. The first one is called the one-way program. This program focuses solely on people learning from Spanish to English. It is meant to help native Spanish speakers learn English while in a classroom setting. The other program is the two-way program. In this program, they focus on Spanish to English in addition to English to Spanish. This program is open to both native Spanish speakers and native English speakers. The kids can then help each other with learning their new languages. Both programs help students to become bilingual.
Conclusion
Austin, Texas has many different public school districts for you to choose from. They have a variety of both big and small districts throughout the city.
The Austin Independent School District is perfect if you want to be in the heart of the city. On the other hand, Eanes Independent School District if you are looking for smaller schools on the outskirts of town.
Public school districts in Austin offer a lot of inclusive programs for their students. Leander Independent School District offers programs to help kids decide their future careers. The Pflugerville Independent School District offers bilingual programs to teach young students new languages.
No matter what you are looking for in a school district, Austin has it all. From outstanding academics to extracurricular programs, there is something for everyone.
Jessica is a students at the University of Northern Iowa. She is majoring in English Education with a creative writing minor. In her free time she loves to read books of every genre, write short stories, and spend time with friends. In the future she hopes to share her love for reading and writing with her future students.
