GARZA EL

Set in MCALLEN, Texas, GARZA EL is a cozy elementary-level community, run under MCALLEN ISD. It caters to 409 students across grades pre-K through 5. Compared to the state average of about 519 students per school, that is 21% leaner than typical.

Within MCALLEN ISD, which oversees 31 schools and 19,890 students, GARZA EL is one campus in the system.

On demographics, GARZA EL reports that the student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic (94%). Other groups include 5% White. That mix tracks the wider county fairly closely.

Looking at the economic backdrop, Staff filings list 28 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 14.8:1 students per teacher. That tracks the state average closely. An estimated 74% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. That share is south of Hidalgo County's rate of about 85%.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, GARZA EL performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 41.6%, the actual is 46.7%, a residual of +5.1 points.

Across the wider county, ACS estimates for Hidalgo County put the typical household earns roughly $54,338 per year, roughly 21% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 23% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across Hidalgo County's 364 public schools (combined enrollment of about 212,859 students), GARZA EL is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is LUCILE HENDRICKS EL, roughly 0.7 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, GARZA EL comes 8th of 9 in the immediate cluster, behind the nearby-schools average of 56.3%.

Geographically, the school is in an inner-city area.

Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count shrank 27%: 564 students in 2018 compared to 409 in 2025. Class-load math has pulled in: from 16.6:1 in 2018 to 14.8:1 in 2025.

Within the allk12 community for this school, recent activity here tends to focus on enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. Members of the school community can share what they know.