Summary:
Zip code 78019, serving the Encinal area, is home to a single school, Encinal Elementary, which serves grades PK through 5 as part of the Cotulla Independent School District (Isd).
Encinal Elementary is a very small school with just 74 students, and it operates in a high-poverty environment, with 85% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch. The school benefits from exceptionally high resources, including a low student-teacher ratio of 7.6:1 and per-student spending of $20,699—far above the state average. Despite these advantages, its academic performance is highly volatile and generally low, ranking in the 17th percentile statewide. The school's small size means that a single cohort of students can dramatically swing test scores from year to year, making it difficult to assess the true effectiveness of its programs.
Key findings show that while 4th-grade students achieved a remarkable 71% proficiency in both Reading and Math in the 2024-2025 school year, this success was not consistent across other grades or years. For example, 5th-grade Math proficiency dropped from 37.5% to 16.7% in the same period, and 5th-grade Science proficiency was just 8.33%—far below the district and state averages. This inconsistency suggests that while the school has the financial and staffing resources to succeed, it faces deep-seated challenges that require targeted, data-driven interventions, particularly in stabilizing year-over-year performance and addressing critical gaps in Science education.
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