La Joya ISD enrollment dropped from 24,804 students in the 2022-23 school year to 21,613 in 2025-26, according to district figures. A demographic study projects the district could lose another 21% of its students over the next 10 years, reaching 16,400 by 2035. Peer districts Edinburg CISD and Brownsville ISD are also shrinking, the article said.
The study said part of the decline is due to students attending charter schools, but the overall student pool is also shrinking. It found Hidalgo County birth rates have fallen more than both the state and national rates. Superintendent Marcey Sorensen said the district has fewer school-aged children in the region, even as the number of schools has grown.
A facilities assessment found La Joya ISD operates at 58.4% capacity, leaving 18,426 empty seats. The Texas Education Agency considers districts under 70% capacity to be inefficient. Chief of Business and Administrative Services Mirgitt Crespo said each seat costs the district the same whether or not a student is in it. The assessment gave the district's facilities an average score of 85.6 out of 100.