Butz Preparatory Academy

Butz Preparatory Academy in Fort Stockton, TX, serves 2,039 students in grades 9-12 and is part of the Fort Stockton Independent School District (Isd), with a predominantly low-income student body where 64.1% qualify for free or reduced lunch.

This school is in a state of crisis, performing in the bottom 13th percentile statewide and showing catastrophic test score gaps compared to its district peer, Fort Stockton High. For example, in Biology, only 12.4% of Butz Prep students are proficient versus 66.4% at Fort Stockton High—a 54-point gap. The school also has a volatile dropout rate that spiked to 17.1% in 2023-2024, over 20 times higher than Fort Stockton High's 0.8% rate. While U.S. History shows a relative strength with 50% proficiency in 2025-2026, outperforming both the district and Fort Stockton High, the school's Gifted and Talented program ranks in the 0th percentile statewide, indicating a critical failure for high-achieving students.

Despite the name "Preparatory Academy," which suggests college readiness, the reality is starkly different. The only positive signal is a recent uptick for low-income students, who jumped from the 4th to the 55th percentile in 2025-2026, suggesting some interventions may be working. Nearby Lone Star Virtual Academy also struggles but is more consistent, with higher test scores than Butz Prep in subjects like English II Reading (34.36% vs. 16.28%). The district must urgently investigate the root causes of this two-tiered system to address the severe academic distress at Butz Prep.