Report card

2 prestigious Dallas high schools make the grade as best in Texas for 2021

St. Mark's School is ranked the top private high school in Texas.

Facebook/St. Mark's School of Texas

Two Dallas schools are at the top of their class among public and private high schools in Texas.

New rankings from education website Niche put Dallas ISD’s School for the Talented and Gifted at No. 1 among public high schools in the state and St. Mark’s School of Texas at No. 1 among private high schools in the state.

Niche ranks public high schools based on factors such as state test scores, college readiness, graduation rates, SAT/ACT scores, teacher quality, and Niche user ratings.

Niche ranks private high schools based on factors like SAT/ACT scores, quality of colleges that students consider, student-teacher ratio, and Niche user ratings.

“Our 2022 rankings come at a time when so many parents are curious about the different options for their children’s education, including some they may never have considered before,” Luke Skurman, founder and CEO of Niche, says in a news release.

A few other local schools also ranked well.

Behind the School for the Talented and Gifted in the public high school category for Texas are:

Second-ranked Liberal Arts & Science Academy (Austin ISD).
Third-ranked School of Science and Engineering (Dallas ISD).
Fourth-ranked Westlake High School (Eanes ISD).
Fifth-ranked Carnegie Vanguard High School (Houston ISD).
Sixth-ranked DeBakey High School for Health Professions (Houston ISD).
Seventh-ranked Carroll Senior High School (Carroll ISD).
Eighth-ranked Westwood High School (Round Rock ISD).
Ninth-ranked Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (Houston ISD).
10th-ranked Vandegrift High School (Leander ISD).

Behind St. Mark’s School Texas in the private high school category for Texas are:

Second-ranked St. John’s School in Houston.
Third-ranked Greenhill School in Addison.
Fourth-ranked The Hockaday School in Dallas.
Fifth-ranked St. Stephen’s Episcopal School in Austin.
Sixth-ranked The John Cooper School in The Woodlands.
Seventh-ranked The Awty International School in Houston.
Eighth-ranked Keystone School in San Antonio.
Ninth-ranked Cistercian Preparatory School in Irving.
10th-ranked The Kincaid School in Houston.

As for the best school districts in Texas, the Austin area’s Eanes ISD grabs the top spot, but Dallas-Fort Worth dominates the rest of the top 10:

Second-ranked South Texas ISD in Mercedes.
Third-ranked Highland Park ISD in Dallas.
Fourth-ranked Carroll ISD in Southlake.
Fifth-ranked Coppell ISD in Coppell.
Sixth-ranked Lovejoy ISD in Allen.
Seventh-ranked Frisco ISD in Frisco.
Eighth-ranked Argyle ISD in Argyle.
Ninth-ranked Grapevine-Colleyville ISD in Grapevine.
10th-ranked Allen ISD in Allen.

education rankings

Politics News

Dallas narrows down field for new city manager to 4 candidates

Photo by R K on Unsplash

This is an Dallasite's sign to launch that small business they've been dreaming of.

After six months without a city manager, the city of Dallas has narrowed down the field of replacements to four semifinalists including one serving as current interim city manager, plus candidates from Fort Worth, Michigan, and Georgia.

Dallas has been without a city manager since May, when previous city manager T.C. Broadnax left to take a job with the city of Austin. Since that time, Broadnax's former chief of staff Kimberly Bizor Tolbert has served as interim city manager.

The city retained Baker Tilly, a consulting firm, to recruit and compile candidates. (Baker Tilly famously erred in the brochure it created for the position by featuring a photo of the Houston skyline instead of Dallas; they've since replaced it with Dallas.)

A spokesperson for Baker Tilly did not respond to inquiries but according to D Magazine, an email listing the candidates has been sent to the Dallas City Council.

The semifinalists include:

Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, Dallas’ current interim city manager
William Johnson, an assistant city manager in Fort Worth
Mark Washington, the city manager of Grand Rapids, Michigan
Zachary Williams, a county chief operating officer in Georgia

All have more than 25 years' of public administration experience and have worked in similar capacities in their respective cities.

Before working in Fort Worth, Johnson was Baltimore’s transportation director and Atlanta’s deputy chief operating officer and public works commissioner.

Washington worked in Fort Worth and Austin before becoming Grand Rapids’ city manager.

Williams has mostly worked in Georgia at the county level, including serving as county manager in Fulton County and chief operating officer in DeKalb County.

Tolbert began working for the city in 1998, first as the city manager’s assistant and later in the aviation department. Broadnax hired her as his chief of staff in 2017.

Unlike the Mayor and the Dallas City Council, the city manager position in Dallas is not elected but is instead appointed by the city council, and is tasked with executing policies, overseeing the annual budget, and managing staff at city hall.

The council’s Ad Hoc Committee will choose finalists, introduce them to the public, and make an offer in early 2025.

politics