Laredo Times

Zapata County schools enrolled 2,153 students who identified as being at risk during the 2021-22 school year, according to the Texas Education Agency.

This is an 11.4% decrease from the previous school year.

Of the 3,287 students enrolled in Zapata County schools, 65.5% of them are considered to be at risk.

Zapata County had the 107th highest number of at-risk students among Texas counties.

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	Number of at-risk students	Total Number of students
Zapata High School	558	987
Zapata Middle School	724	808
Zapata North Elementary School	262	534
Zapata South Elementary School	273	467
Fidel and Andrea R. Villarreal Elementary School	284	427
Benavides Elementary School	52	64