Summary:
The Slaton Independent School District (Isd) contains two elementary schools serving students from Pre-Kindergarten through 5th grade, and the district as a whole faces significant academic challenges, ranking in the bottom 20% of Texas school districts.
Cathelene Thomas Elementary (grades 1-5) is the primary academic school and the only one with standardized test scores. Its performance is well below state averages in every subject. For example, only about 19% of 3rd graders are proficient in math, compared to 44% statewide, and just 18% of 5th graders are proficient in science. While reading scores improve slightly by 5th grade (reaching 51% proficiency), they still lag behind the state. In contrast, Stephen F Austin Pri (Pre-K through Kindergarten) has no test scores but serves the district's youngest learners. A key difference between the two schools is their student-teacher ratio: Cathelene Thomas has a much more favorable ratio of 13.6 students per teacher, while Stephen F Austin Pri has a higher ratio of 19 students per teacher, despite spending more per student ($13,921 vs. $12,043). This means the school with the youngest, most vulnerable students has larger class sizes, which is a concern for early learning.
Both schools serve a high percentage of students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds (about 70% at Cathelene Thomas and 80% at Stephen F Austin Pri). The most critical finding is the crisis in mathematics, where proficiency rates are roughly 20-25 percentage points below the state average in every grade. While Cathelene Thomas has shown slight stability in its state ranking over the last few years, it remains in the bottom fifth of Texas elementary schools. For parents, this data indicates that the district's elementary schools are struggling to meet state academic standards, particularly in math and science, and that resource allocation does not appear to be reducing class sizes for the youngest students who need the most support.
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