Dayton Independent School District is a public school district based in Dayton, Texas (USA).
The district serves the cities of Dayton, Dayton Lakes, Kenefick, and some unincorporated areas including Eastgate, Stilson, and the northern half of Old River-Winfree. A very small portion of the district lies in neighboring Harris County. The district stretches 263 miles square, one of the largest school districts by area in the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugarland, TX Metropolitan Area.
In 2009, the school district was rated "academically unacceptable" by the Texas Education Agency.[1] In 2022, it received a "C" rating with a composite score of 72. It went unrated in two of the categories ratable by the TEA due to its low scores in academic growth and closing the gaps in student performance.[2]
Former Dayton ISD trustee John Otto held the District 18 seat in the Texas House of Representatives from 2005 to 2016, which encompasses Liberty, San Jacinto, and Walker counties.
It is stated by the county historical commission that the district was founded once Dayton had a large enough population to split from the Liberty County Common School District in 1907.[3] However, state records indicate the ISD existed as far back as 1880,[4] with a case brought to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction against the Board of Trustees involving the wrongful dismissal of a teacher can be found in the 21st volume of the Texas School Journal, which released around c.1903.[5]
Upon the opening of the new Dayton High School building in 1999, the then-building of Woodrow Wilson Junior High became a fifth-grade center and then Dayton Middle School took the place of the old Dayton High School.[6]
Each of the current K-5 schools used to handle different grade levels, but after the Dayton ISD Board of Trustees passed a bond in 2014, it began construction of new campuses and the repurposing of former campuses.[7] Colbert Elementary is not a new campus nor has it undergone any construction. Construction on new campuses was completed and the distribution of grade levels and areas of residence[8] was changed to the following:
While Dayton ISD formerly offered education for 6th graders at Nottingham Middle School. Since the 2014 bond approval, Nottingham Middle School was repurposed to fulfill state requirements of having a DAEP/AAEP Alternate Education Center.[9]
Woodrow Wilson Junior High now educates 6th-graders and the Nottingham campus has become the Alternative Education Center. Dayton ISD offers a night school program and education for children with disciplinary problems or a variety of other issues which may require a different style of learning environment from the district's other schools.