Hays CISD School District

Hays CISD enrolls 23,313 students across 26 ranked schools. That scale puts the district in a range where campus selection matters — families zoned to different parts of the district can see meaningfully different academic outcomes depending on which school they attend.

The district averages 5.8 out of 10 across all 26 schools. That average sits in moderate territory, but the spread is what parents should pay attention to. The top-performing campus, Elm Grove Elementary, scores 8.6 — a full 2.8 points above the district mean. That gap signals real variation within Hays CISD boundaries, and campus-level research pays off here more than it would in a tighter, more uniform district.

Elementary campuses dominate the district's top tier. Elm Grove Elementary leads at 8.6, followed by Buda Elementary (8.1) and Tobias Elementary (7.9). Carpenter Hill Elementary (7.6) and Science Hall Elementary (7.5) round out the five highest-ranked schools in the district. All five are elementary campuses, and all score at least 1.7 points above the district average. For families with young children, these schools represent the clearest high-performing entry points into the Hays CISD pipeline.

At 23,313 students, the district is large enough to have significant school-to-school variation but focused enough that most families can realistically assess their options. The 5.8 district average reflects a middle tier carrying the bulk of enrollment. Parents prioritizing academic performance should compare individual campus scores against that baseline — the five schools above 7.5 are outliers on the positive end, and knowing where a zoned campus falls relative to the district average is the most practical first step in evaluating an enrollment decision or relocation.