Texas schools

Public education in Texas is handled by school districts, of which there are over 1,000 in Texas. With one exception (a district operated by the City of Stafford, a suburb of Houston), the districts are independent of any city or county authority.

Although a district may contain the name of the primary city (such as the Dallas Independent School District), the districts do not necessarily align with city or county boundaries. As an example, the City of Dallas is served not only by its namesake district, but also by eight additional districts located primarily in other cities. Concurrently, the Dallas school district also serves students in all or parts of 17 other cities. Two districts (Boles and Boys Ranch) have geographic areas concurrent with nonprofit facilities for orphaned or troubled students.

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) has limited oversight of school districts; however, it has the authority to close a district if it repeatedly fails to properly educate students (a notable example was in 2005 when the Wilmer-Hutchins district -- a district with even worse performance than any of the big city districts -- was finally closed after allegations of teachers helping students cheat on state exams). TEA is organized into 20 regions, which exist solely to provide assistance to districts; the regions have no authority over districts.

In addition to public schools, Texas has many charter and private schools. TEA has no jurisdiction over them, nor over homeschooling (Texas, previously a difficult state for homeschooling, has become one of the most friendly states, due in large part to Leeper v. Arlington ISD, a case which clarified the lack of governmental jurisdiction over the practice).

Unlike many states where public and private schools are governed by one agency for athletic and similar contests, there are several agencies covering these contests. The primary agency is the University Interscholastic League (UIL, as its name suggests it is operated by the University of Texas), which governs all public schools as well as some charter and two all-male private schools (Dallas Jesuit and Houston Strake Jesuit, which due to their size would overwhelm the other private schools). The Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools (TAPPS) governs most of the larger private schools (especially those associated with Christian churches or groups), while the Southwest Preparatory Conference -- which also has one member in neighboring Oklahoma -- governs many non-sectarian private schools. There are also several smaller groups which govern much smaller private schools.