10 Percent of U.S. Elite High Schools Now Hail from Texas

Are you looking into some good educational opportunities for your kids? As in, high-school education that isn't a cornucopia of woke nutbaggery? Well, turns out you do a lot worse than to look at Texas. The Lone Star State, according to the U.S. News 2025-2026 Best High Schools Rankings, has ten of the nation's top 100 high schools.

Maybe a few other states should come take some notes.

Ten percent of the top 100 high schools in the country are in Texas, according to a U.S. News 2025-2026 Best High Schools Rankings.
The rankings assessed nearly 18,000 public high schools in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Rankings are based on six factors based on state assessments performance and how well students are prepared for college, the report says.
Eight of Texas’ top 10 high schools are magnet schools; two are open-enrollment charter schools. Magnet schools offer theme-based curriculum in specific subjects, teachers receive specialized training and students are required to apply in a selective application process. There are currently 270 magnet public schools in Texas serving nearly 210,000 students, according to Public School Review.

Here's the interesting thing: They are all either magnet schools or charter schools. In Texas, a magnet school is a public school that offers a particular curriculum, like STEM. A charter school is also a public school, but operates with more autonomy and less interference from the state government.

By way of illustration, here are the Texas Top Three from this ranking:

Ranking first is the School for the Talented and Gifted (TAG), a magnet college prep school for gifted students in Dallas ISD. It has 546 students enrolled in grades 9-12. It ranks 9th best overall and 33rd best among science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) high schools nationwide.
Ranking second best is the Irma Lerma Rangel Young Women's Leadership School, a magnet school in Dallas ISD, with 292 students enrolled in grades 6-12. It ranks 15th best in the country.
Ranking third best is the School of Science and Engineering, a magnet college prep school n Dallas ISD. It has 495 students enrolled in grades 9-12. It ranks 23rd best overall and 46th best among STEM high schools nationwide.

This is, honestly, one of the best arguments for school choice I've seen in a while.

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A quick and very informal browse through the top schools in the U.S. News rankings speaks eloquently. Most of the high-ranking schools are one variation or another on that theme; charter schools, magnet schools, and so forth. Note that Texas's first is a magnet school for the Talented and Gifted, which I sure wish had been an option when our kids were in school; they all went through the International Baccalaureate program, which was supposed to be, again, a program for the talented and gifted kids, but their mother and I were constantly filling in gaps and, honestly, correcting mistakes in their educations.

For example, all four of them graduated from high school without ever being required to read the Constitution. Oh, they read it - at home.

The ideal solution would be to get the government out of education altogether. Privatize the whole shebang; let a thousand flowers bloom, and let parents decide. But since that doesn't look too likely, charter schools and the like seem the best possible solution. The results of this survey, and especially the results from Texas, sure seem to prove that out.

Editor’s Note: The Democrat Party has never been less popular as Democrat politicians work to destroy our kids' educations.

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