SOUTH TEXAS ISD SCIENCE ACADEMY

SOUTH TEXAS ISD SCIENCE ACADEMY is a medium-sized four-year high school in MERCEDES, Texas, operated by SOUTH TEXAS ISD. The school works with 840 students in grades 9 through 12.

SOUTH TEXAS ISD runs 7 schools in total, collectively educating 4,639 students. SOUTH TEXAS ISD SCIENCE ACADEMY is one of those campuses.

Looking at the student body, SOUTH TEXAS ISD SCIENCE ACADEMY records that 83% of students identify as Hispanic, making the school strongly Hispanic-majority. Other groups include 8% White, 6% Asian. By comparison, Hidalgo County as a whole is about 92% Hispanic, so the school skews meaningfully less Hispanic than its surroundings.

In terms of school funding signals, Staff filings list 65 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 12.9:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 15.1:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. An estimated 55% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. By comparison, Hidalgo County runs at roughly 85%, so the school's eligibility rate is somewhat below the surrounding baseline.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), SOUTH TEXAS ISD SCIENCE ACADEMY sits in the top 10% of Texas schools after the BeatsExpectations adjustment. Predicted proficiency for the school's FRL share is roughly 50.0%; actual is 79.6%, +29.7 points clear of the demographic baseline.

Across the wider county, community-level numbers for Hidalgo County indicate median household income runs about $54,338, 21% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, 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), SOUTH TEXAS ISD SCIENCE ACADEMY is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: SOUTH TEXAS ISD HEALTH PROFESSIONS, around 0.1 miles off. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts SOUTH TEXAS ISD SCIENCE ACADEMY at 1st of 4; the average score across the group is 40.4%.

The campus sits in a commuter-belt setting.

Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count edged up 5%: 801 students in 2018 compared to 840 in 2025. Over the same period, the Asian share declined from 14% to 6%. Class-load math has tightened: from 14.5:1 in 2018 to 12.9:1 in 2025.

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