The top reported proficiency rate is 43% in Math. The lowest is 13% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Galindo El
Galindo Elementary sits on South 2nd Street in the 78704 zip code, one of Austin's most active and expensive inner-south corridors. The school serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grade within Austin ISD, and its student body is strongly Hispanic, with that group making up the large majority of enrollment. Nearly nine in ten students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, making Galindo one of the more economically concentrated campuses in the district. English learner counts were not reported in the data available, but the presence of Spanish-language STAAR testing across multiple grades suggests the school serves a substantial bilingual or dual-language population. Exact enrollment figures sit in the data sections on this page; in context for its grade band, the school is a mid-sized elementary.
On the Texas STAAR assessment, the picture is mixed and parents will want to ask the school directly about instructional supports. Third-grade math, tested in Spanish, showed a majority of students scoring at or above the approaches-grade-level threshold, which is a relative bright spot. Once students move into fourth and fifth grade, math proficiency drops considerably, and reading and language arts scores at grades three through five are low across the board, with only a small fraction of students reaching the meets-grade-level standard in any tested year. Fifth-grade science proficiency is similarly low. The overall proficiency index for the school places it below the midpoint among Travis County districts, based on the comparison set available. Only one year of data was present, so no trend line can be drawn. A parent with questions about how the school is working to close these gaps, what intervention programs are in place, and where individual students stand would be well-served to raise those questions directly with the campus.
The broader district context matters here. Austin ISD has been navigating a significant budget deficit alongside a decade of declining enrollment. In late 2025, publicly reported coverage confirmed the board approved closing ten schools and reassigning thousands of students ahead of the 2026-27 school year, with several dual-language programs being relocated. Galindo itself does not appear on the closure list in the information available, but families should confirm the status of any dual-language or bilingual programming on campus given those district-wide moves. The board also approved two dozen state-mandated turnaround plans at the same meeting. Additionally, voters approved a property tax rate increase in 2024 to fund staff raises and reduce the deficit, which affects homeowner costs in the attendance zone. A large bond passed in 2022 is funding facility modernizations across the district; families can ask specifically where Galindo falls in that capital queue.
The neighborhood itself is a telling part of the picture. The 78704 zip code is among Austin's priciest, and home values there sit well above the state average and well above the national median. Year-over-year values have softened modestly, and rents have also dipped slightly, but the area remains expensive by any Texas standard. The gap between what the housing market reflects and the economic profile of the school's student body is wide, which is itself a meaningful characteristic of this particular campus and corridor. Austin overall is a fast-growing, car-dependent city with walkable pockets; the South 2nd area falls in one of those more walkable inner corridors, with South Congress nearby and access to Lady Bird Lake's trail system not far off.
For a family whose children are already enrolled or whose home is in the attendance zone, the most pressing questions are practical: the status of any bilingual or dual-language program, how the district's consolidation and turnaround processes affect this campus, what academic intervention is available for students who are below grade level, and where Galindo stands in the bond-funded facilities improvement timeline. The academic data as reported points to real challenges in reading across grades, and a parent would be right to pursue those questions rather than wait.
See more original research from School Decision →