Hernandez El, San Marcos TX - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Hernandez El

Hernandez Elementary sits in San Marcos, a college town built around Texas State University on the I-35 corridor between Austin and San Antonio. The school serves kindergarten through fifth grade in a community that has grown rapidly and continues to expand, with new housing developments, commercial projects, and university infrastructure all under way. The school enrollment is small to mid-sized for its grade band, with a student population that reflects the area's demographics: about two-thirds are Hispanic, about a quarter are White, and Black and Asian students together make up a small share. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a marker of economic need in the attendance area.

On state assessments, Hernandez Elementary shows mixed results across grades. Third graders in math and reading both hover around the middle range, with about six in ten reaching proficiency. By fifth grade, reading proficiency stays roughly steady, but math proficiency drops to about half the students meeting grade-level standards. Fourth grade presents a particular challenge: both math and reading results on Spanish-language STAAR assessments are substantially lower, though the Spanish-tested group is very small. Social studies proficiency is lower across the school, with fewer than a third of students meeting or exceeding the standard. The school's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile among districts in Hays County, a strength that reflects the school's comparative standing locally despite these grade-level and subject-level variations.

The district has faced sustained budget pressure. Voters approved a substantial bond in 2023 for campus improvements and, separately, a property tax increase in November 2024 to help offset operating shortfalls. The district nonetheless adopted a notably smaller general fund budget for 2025-26, eliminated positions including instructional coaches and elementary nurse assistants, and let go many newer teachers. These staffing reductions and program cuts carry real implications for classroom support and resources available to students. Hernandez is itself receiving a new building under the 2023 bond, with construction underway.

San Marcos itself offers a mixed setting. The historic downtown is walkable, centered on a courthouse square with restaurants, live music, shops, and the Texas State campus nearby. The city has ample parks, including riverfront areas, and public transit including free fixed-route buses. At the same time, the city also has large-scale outlet mall retail and is in the midst of substantial residential and commercial growth, so the setting ranges from historic core to rapidly developing suburban edges. Housing costs in the area have softened slightly from a recent peak but remain above national benchmarks relative to local income.

Parents evaluating Hernandez Elementary should weigh the school's decent relative standing against its mixed proficiency results, particularly in math by fifth grade and across social studies. The school's context is one of economic need and recent district budget constraints that have reduced both staffing and support roles. The community itself offers a college-town character with walkability in parts and steady growth elsewhere, attractive to some families and potentially chaotic to others.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 363%

School 63% · District 43% · ▲ 20 pts above district

▲ 23 pts above state median · ▲ 19 pts above county median

Grade 40%

School 0% · District 10% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 41 pts below state median · ▼ 43 pts below county median

Grade 546%

School 46% · District 43% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 361%

School 61% · District 44% · ▲ 17 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

Grade 431%

School 31% · District 28% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 19 pts below county median

Grade 561%

School 61% · District 50% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 7 pts above state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

This schoolSAN MARCOS CISD, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income48%Higher-income77%29 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income45%Higher-income84%39 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income50%Higher-income80%30 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income0%Higher-income68%68 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income35%Higher-income63%28 pp gap