Tyler Reporter

Jacksonville High School had the highest enrollment among Cherokee County schools, welcoming 1,265 students during the 2021-22 academic year, according to the Texas Education Agency report.

Of all the students welcomed in the 2021-22 school year, 51.4% of them were boys, and 48.6% were girls.

Data also showed that the majority of students were Hispanic, representing 55.1% of the Jacksonville High School total enrollment.

Among the 24 schools in Cherokee County, Bullard High School ranked second in enrollment numbers with 837 students, while Jacksonville Middle School welcomed 715 students and ranked third in the 2021-22 school year.

Jacksonville High School is a part of Jacksonville ISD, which roughly covers schools within Cherokee County with its main office in Jacksonville.

In the previous school year, Jacksonville High School also had the highest number of students among Cherokee 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
Jacksonville High School	Jacksonville	1,265
Bullard High School	Bullard	837
Jacksonville Middle School	Jacksonville	715
Nichols Intermediate School	Jacksonville	662
Fred Douglass	Jacksonville	602
Rusk High School	Rusk	594
East Side Elementary School	Jacksonville	571
New Summerfield School	New Summerfield	538
Joe Wright Elementary School	Jacksonville	536
Rusk Junior High School	Rusk	481
Bullard Middle School	Bullard	449
Bullard Intermediate School	Bullard	445
Bullard Primary School	Bullard	393
G.W. Bradford Primary School	Rusk	385
Bullard Elementary School	Bullard	381
West Side Elementary School	Jacksonville	372
Bullard Early Childhood	Bullard	286
Rusk Intermediate School	Rusk	285
Wells School	Wells	258
Rusk Elementary School	Rusk	256
Alto Elementary School	Alto	227
Alto Middle School	Alto	166
Alto High School	Alto	163
Compass Center	Jacksonville	20