Best Public Schools in Zip Code 78642

Zip code 78642 in Liberty Hill, TX, is home to 11 schools serving Pre-K through 12th grade, predominantly within the highly-ranked Liberty Hill Independent School District (Isd), which is in the 87th percentile statewide and serves a relatively affluent community with low free/reduced lunch rates.

The standout schools in this area are Santa Rita Elementary and Santa Rita Middle. Santa Rita Elementary is the top-ranked elementary school (84th percentile), excelling in 5th-grade Reading with an 82.95% proficiency rate, far exceeding district and state averages, and it benefits from a low student-teacher ratio of 13.7. Santa Rita Middle (81st percentile) is exceptional for its advanced math program, with an astounding 89.29% of 8th graders scoring proficient on the Algebra I End-of-Course exam—a 35-point lead over the district and state. Liberty Hill High School is a pillar of the community with a 96.9% graduation rate and a 0.2% dropout rate, though its state ranking has slightly declined to the 74th percentile. In contrast, Ki Charter Academy Liberty Hill is a stark outlier, ranked in the bottom 15% of Texas high schools with critically low proficiency rates (often in single digits) and a high 11.1% dropout rate, despite spending $23,591 per student—the highest in the area.

Key metrics reveal a "two-tiered" math system: while 7th-grade math scores at both middle schools are alarmingly low (14.91% at Santa Rita Middle and 21.32% at Liberty Hill Middle, below the state average of 29.41%), advanced 8th graders in Algebra I achieve exceptional results. San Gabriel Elementary, part of the lower-ranked Georgetown Independent School District (Isd) (57th percentile), is a diamond in the rough, ranking in the 82nd percentile statewide with outstanding 4th-grade Reading (80% proficient). Spending disparities are notable: Liberty Hill Elementary spends $11,619 per student but has declined from the 81st to 71st percentile, while Santa Rita Middle spends the least ($7,879) yet achieves strong results, underscoring that factors like school culture and curriculum matter more than raw spending.