The top reported proficiency rate is 48% in English language arts. The lowest is 37% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Alkek El
Alkek Elementary in Bandera, Texas is a public school serving pre-K through fifth grade with a mixed economic profile and academic results that reflect middle-range proficiency across the district's four-county comparison set.
The school enrolls a diverse student body for a rural Hill Country area, with roughly two-thirds of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating economic stress across a substantial share of the enrollment. Racially and ethnically, the school is roughly split between white and Hispanic students, with smaller numbers of multiracial students and minimal representation of other groups. The school sits on Highway 173 South outside the compact downtown Bandera core, part of a spread of four campuses across the district after a historical consolidation from a single downtown building.
State testing data from 2024-25 shows proficiency rates that vary by grade and subject. In English language arts, fifth graders reached about mid-range proficiency, while third and fourth graders landed lower. Math performance followed a similar pattern, with proficiency climbing from third to fifth grade. Fifth grade science proficiency sat at about the lower-middle range. Across all subjects and grades combined, the school is at about the midpoint of proficiency among Bandera County's two districts, a position that reflects neither particular strength nor significant lag relative to its local peers. The data carries some uncertainty: fourth-grade ELA results were suppressed because of a small number of students tested in Spanish.
Alkek reflects broader district context that families should understand when considering it. The Bandera ISD board approved a four-day school week beginning in 2024-25, with Fridays off for students and longer daily instructional hours to compensate. The district cited teacher recruitment and retention as rationale, alongside student mental health. This shift affects family schedules and childcare arrangements and represents a deliberate trade-off in calendar structure. The district also faced two consecutive failed bond elections in 2023, leaving long-deferred facility upgrades unfunded. Voter resistance centered on rising property taxes, a signal of fiscal tension in the local community that may limit facility improvements in coming years.
The broader Bandera area is a small, tourism-centered Hill Country town with a cowboy heritage and outdoor-oriented economy built on construction, health care, and hospitality work. New residential development is occurring in outlying subdivisions rather than densely in-town, reflecting county-wide suburban spillover from San Antonio. Housing values sit slightly below state averages. The town and immediate county have modest growth compared to the broader region, though the area within a few miles of town is expanding slightly faster than Texas overall.
For families considering Alkek, the key variables are the four-day school week, the mixed test results that sit at local average rather than above, and the school's position in a small, economically mixed rural community where a substantial proportion of children meet low-income thresholds. Parent-level data on special education and English learner services was not available, so a family with students in those populations may want to look into those supports further with the school.
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