The top reported proficiency rate is 40% in Science. The lowest is 11% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Garcia Ymla
Garcia YMLA is a sixth-through-eighth grade middle school in Austin ISD, located on Johnny Morris Road in east Austin. It is a regular public school, not a charter, and serves a small enrollment for a campus of its grade band. The student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic, with a meaningful share of Black students as well, and nearly every student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, making this one of the more economically concentrated campuses in the district. Data on English learner rates and special education enrollment were not available in what was provided.
The academic picture, measured by Texas STAAR results, is one a parent should look at carefully. Proficiency rates across all grade levels and tested subjects sit well below the midpoint among districts in Travis County. In math, the gap between students approaching grade level and those actually meeting or mastering it is wide; very few students reach the mastery threshold across any subject. Reading and language arts show more strength than math, with eighth grade ELA showing the most favorable results of any subject-grade combination reported. Science and social studies at eighth grade are in between. The overall proficiency index for the school places it below the midpoint in the Travis County comparison set. Only one year of data is available, so there is no trend line to show whether results are improving, holding, or declining. Parents interested in understanding what the school is doing to move students toward grade level may want to ask the school directly; Austin ISD approved twenty-four state-mandated turnaround plans in late 2025, and it is worth asking whether Garcia YMLA is among those campuses operating under one.
Program and course access information was not available in the data provided, so this account cannot speak to electives, enrichment, athletics, or other offerings. The school's website would be the right place to look for that.
The district context matters here. Austin ISD is in active restructuring. A major bond approved a few years ago is funding facility rebuilds across the district, so capital investment is ongoing. A property tax increase passed in 2024 was intended to fund staff raises and reduce a substantial budget deficit, which affects both teacher pay and household tax bills for families who own homes in the district. Perhaps most immediately relevant, the board approved closing ten schools before the 2026-27 school year in response to a decade of enrollment decline and a large number of empty seats districtwide. Garcia YMLA is not named among the closures in the data provided, but the broader reorganization is reshuffling attendance boundaries, dual language program locations, and student assignments across the system, and families should verify current enrollment information directly with the district.
The surrounding housing market reflects broader Austin pressures. Home values in the zip code have declined year over year, while rents have ticked slightly upward. The estimated monthly mortgage payment runs well above what the rent figure implies, meaning renting is meaningfully less costly on a monthly basis than buying at current prices. Austin as a city is one of the fastest-growing large metros in the country, with a major technology and semiconductor employment base, but the east Austin corridor where this school sits has its own distinct character from the more affluent westside neighborhoods. The city is heavily car-dependent outside a few walkable central corridors, and the school's address on Johnny Morris Road reflects that suburban, auto-oriented geography.
For a family already in this part of east Austin, Garcia YMLA is the neighborhood middle school. The academic results as reported are low and warrant a direct conversation with the school about what supports are in place, what improvement plans look like, and what the trajectory has been. The school's identity as a predominantly Hispanic campus serving a nearly entirely economically disadvantaged population is simply what it is; whether that peer environment fits a family's situation is a matter of fit, not judgment. The district's current instability, the turnaround plan process, and the consolidation activity are real factors a family should weigh.
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