WESTERN HILLS EL

WESTERN HILLS EL is an elementary campus of close-knit scale in TEMPLE, Texas, one of the schools within TEMPLE ISD, instructing 417 students in grades pre-K through 5.

TEMPLE ISD runs 17 schools in total, collectively educating 9,073 students. WESTERN HILLS EL is one of those campuses.

In terms of who attends, WESTERN HILLS EL reports that the largest single group is Hispanic at 40%, but no single group is in the majority. Beyond that, the school shows 28% White, 22% Black, 7% multiracial. The wider county runs roughly 26% Hispanic, putting the school's mix considerably more Hispanic than the area baseline.

Looking at the economic backdrop, Staff filings list 24 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 17.6:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 15.1:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. Around 70% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. Set against Bell County (around 57%), the school's rate is meaningfully above typical.

After controlling for student poverty, WESTERN HILLS EL performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 43.3%, the actual is 39.9%, a residual of -3.4 points.

Zooming out to the county, ACS estimates for Bell County put median household income runs about $68,865, 27% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 11%. In all, Bell County runs 130 public schools (combined enrollment of about 71,041 students), of which WESTERN HILLS EL is one.

The closest other public school is SCOTT EL, roughly 1.0 miles away. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around WESTERN HILLS EL. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts WESTERN HILLS EL at 5th of 8; the average score across the group is 41.1%.

WESTERN HILLS EL operates from a downtown location.

Looking at the recent track record. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at WESTERN HILLS EL has rose 3%, going from 403 students in 2018 to 417 in 2025. The Black share of enrollment ticked down from 33% to 22% over that span. Class-load math has widened: from 15.4:1 in 2018 to 17.6:1 in 2025.

On this page, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.