From the 74
Published April 6, 2026
Each day, hundreds of rural south Texas high schoolers wake before sunrise to board vans that bump for miles over back roads, crossing ranch land and thickets of brush. Their destinations aren’t their local schools, but distant districts where specialized academies offer them training in nursing, teaching and welding, along with associate degrees.
The students’ home districts — Agua Dulce, Premont, Brooks County, Freer and Benavides — used to operate separately. They had a shrinking student population, were unable to provide much career and technical education, and struggled with low achievement. But seven years ago, a handshake between the superintendents of the Premont and Freer independent school districts gave rise to what would become the Rural Schools Innovation Zone.
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