Texas now claims ten of the top 100 high schools in the U.S. News 2025-2026 rankings, a fact that underscores how school choice, magnet programs, and charter autonomy can produce strong outcomes. This article looks at what that means, why many of those schools are magnets or charters, and how the Texas example ties into broader arguments about education policy and parental control.

10 Percent of U.S. Elite High Schools Now Hail from Texas

If you want high-performing high schools without the ideological fluff, Texas is suddenly hard to ignore. The U.S. News 2025-2026 Best High Schools list places ten Texas schools among the top 100 nationwide, a remarkable concentration that points to specific policies and local approaches. That kind of clustering raises questions about what other states might learn if they prioritized choice and specialty programs.

Most of the top Texas entries are magnet or charter schools, which says something about flexibility and focused curricula. Magnet schools concentrate resources and specialized teaching in areas like STEM, while charters operate with more autonomy than typical district schools. Both paths give families options beyond the standard neighborhood assignment model.

Ten percent of the top 100 high schools in the country are in Texas, according to a U.S. News 2025-2026 Best High Schools Rankings.

The rankings assessed nearly 18,000 public high schools in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Rankings are based on six factors based on state assessments performance and how well students are prepared for college, the report says. 

Eight of Texas’ top 10 high schools are magnet schools; two are open-enrollment charter schools. Magnet schools offer theme-based curriculum in specific subjects, teachers receive specialized training and students are required to apply in a selective application process. There are currently 270 magnet public schools in Texas serving nearly 210,000 students, according to Public School Review.

Look at the makeup of those top Texas schools and you see a pattern: a selective application process, concentrated expertise, and curricula geared toward college readiness. Those factors let teachers dive deep into advanced material and let motivated students feed off one another. That concentrated environment is hard to replicate in a one-size-fits-all campus model.

Ranking first is the School for the Talented and Gifted (TAG), a magnet college prep school for gifted students in Dallas ISD. It has 546 students enrolled in grades 9-12. It ranks 9th best overall and 33rd best among science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) high schools nationwide.  

Ranking second best is the Irma Lerma Rangel Young Women’s Leadership School, a magnet school in Dallas ISD, with 292 students enrolled in grades 6-12. It ranks 15th best in the country. 

Ranking third best is the School of Science and Engineering, a magnet college prep school n Dallas ISD. It has 495 students enrolled in grades 9-12. It ranks 23rd best overall and 46th best among STEM high schools nationwide.

Those Dallas schools illustrate how focus and selection can push outcomes. Small student bodies, rigorous standards, and a curriculum tailored for high achievers make a big difference in test scores and college prep measurements. When families can choose a specialized environment, the results suggest overall performance rises.

There’s also a political angle worth stating plainly: empowering parents, reducing centralized control, and expanding school options align with conservative priorities. Privatization of education is an extreme view, but expanding charters and magnets to give parents real choices is a practical middle path. The Texas outcomes provide evidence for that policy direction.

Families who want alternatives to mainstream district offerings now have more leverage when districts host successful magnet and charter models. Those schools often attract teachers who want to teach advanced material and administrators willing to innovate. That combination tends to reward motivated students and involved families.

Of course, no system is perfect, and selective schools leave hard questions about access and equity. But the existence of high-performing public options in Texas shows that public funds can support excellence when used flexibly. States that lock everything into a single, centralized model may find themselves trailing districts that embrace choice and specialization.

For parents tired of ideological overreach and curriculum trends that miss basics, Texas’s results are a practical argument for reform. They show that when schools focus on core academics, specialized curricula, and parental choice, outcomes can improve. That’s a policy worth debating honestly and implementing where it makes sense.

Editor’s Note: The Democrat Party has never been less popular as Democrat politicians work to destroy our kids’ educations.

Ward Clark hails from Alaska’s Susitna Valley, where he maintains his rural household in one of America’s last free places. Ward is a twelve-year veteran of the U.S. Army, including service in Operation Desert Storm and (in Germany in support of) Operation Joint Endeavor, and today is a staunch minarchist libertarian, along with being an author, novelist, self-employed small businessman, woods bum, and semi-professional bad influence. You can see some of Ward’s fiction writing here, and be sure to follow Ward on Rumble!