There were 887 Black students enrolled in Hardin County schools in the 2024-25 school year, 6.1% less than the previous year, according to the Texas Education Agency.
Data showed that Hardin County welcomed 10,538 students during the 2024-25 school year. Among them, Black students comprised 8.4% of the student body to be the third most represented ethnicity in the county.
Among the 18 schools in Hardin County, Silsbee Elementary School recorded the highest enrollment of Black students, with a total of 166.
A recent study by WalletHub classified Texas as one of the least-educated states in the U.S., ranking it 41st out of 50 in educational quality and student outcomes.
Underfunding is a frequently cited challenge facing Texas’ school districts. According to a 2024 report from the Texas Education Agency, 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 stated in an interview.
| School name | % Black students | Total enrollment |
|---|---|---|
| Lumberton High School | 1% | 1,232 |
| Lumberton Intermediate School | 0.7% | 987 |
| Silsbee Elementary School | 18% | 921 |
| Lumberton Middle School | 0.9% | 918 |
| Silsbee High School | 19.6% | 789 |
| Hardin-Jefferson High School | 15.5% | 782 |
| Sour Lake Elementary School | 5% | 720 |
| Henderson Middle School | 12.5% | 656 |
| Edwards-Johnson Memorial Middle School | 19.1% | 597 |
| Lumberton Primary School | 0% | 574 |
| Lumberton Early Childhood School | 1% | 396 |
| Kountze Elementary School | 12.2% | 336 |
| Kountze High School | 13.1% | 328 |
| Laura Reeves Primary School | 13.9% | 281 |
| West Hardin Elementary School | 0% | 280 |
| Kountze Intermediate School | 10.5% | 257 |
| West Hardin High School | 0.8% | 254 |
| Kountze Middle School | 13% | 230 |
Information in this article was obtained from the Texas Education Agency. The source data can be found here.
