What is School Finder?
School Finder is the first regional online tool designed to help parents find and compare free public schools in El Paso County. School Finder is addressing an unmet need in the community: access to information. It’s important to have a resource that showcases the quality of schools and what each school offers so that parents and guardians can find the best school for their child. This includes understanding how well each school is performing and ensuring their students meet state educational standards.
School Finder is El Paso’s first and only online tool that provides comprehensive information for El Paso County public schools in one easy-to-use format. This website allows parents to search and easily view and compare detailed information on free public schools (PreK-12), with links for how to enroll.
How to Use School Finder
School Finder is the first stop for any parents searching for a public school for their children. Parents can search for schools by location (address, city, postal code or school district) or by school type, which includes school district, school level, and grade level. Once search fields are entered, school listings will be populated to view and compare schools. You can also include additional filters to narrow your school search, and email a school profile for future access.
School Finder has individual profiles for each school with data pulled in from Texas databases, which also includes educational performance data.
While the information available at launch is pulled from public resources, all schools have the ability, and are encouraged to, enhance their profile to better promote the offerings they provide, as well as their accomplishments to differentiate themselves from other schools in the region. All data will be verified before added to a school profile to ensure parents have the most accurate and helpful information when it comes to choosing a school for their child.
Please read our Frequently Asked Questions below for more information on navigating the website.
School Finder & General School Finding Questions
School Finder is a free, online tool to help parents find, compare and understand PreK-12 free public school options available in El Paso, Texas and surrounding areas. Visitors can search schools by entering a location (address, city, postal code, or school district) or by school type, using filters such as school district, school level, or grade level.
School Finder currently includes a list of free, public PreK-12 schools in El Paso County. This includes Anthony ISD, Canutillo ISD, Clint ISD, El Paso ISD, Fabens ISD, San Elizario ISD, Socorro ISD, Tornillo ISD, Ysleta ISD and many of the free charter school options.
Currently there are over 240 PreK-12 free, public schools included in the School Finder database. Additional schools, including private schools, may be added in the future.
School Finder currently provides information for schools serving grades PreK through grade 12.
School profiles include the ability for individual schools to highlight several features, including special programs, on-site after school programs, and if transportation is available, among others. Some of this information may not be available for all schools, but School Finder is continually working with schools to include more information that is useful for parents when comparing school options. We encourage parents to become familiar with schools that offer these services, and to inquire directly with the school about child care options and availability, as these details vary by school.
On the Home page, select “Search by Location” and then enter an address, city, postal code or school district. Multiple schools will populate based on your criteria. The system will only show 25 schools at a time. The school district for each school is identified at the top of each school listing. Since the system shows all schools in close proximity to the address provided, multiple school districts (traditional and charter) may be displayed. School district information and maps can be found on the Texas Education Agency (TEA).
Yes, all the schools in School Finder offer open enrollment. Open Enrollment is a program that allows children who do not live within a school’s regional boundaries to apply. However, some schools have different enrollment criteria that must be met. Some have an annual lottery to select students, others have academic or gender requirements, depending on the type of school. More information on each district’s and school’s enrollment process can be found on the respective district website, or individual school website. [ Anthony ISD , Canutillo ISD, Clint ISD, El Paso ISD, Fabens ISD, San Elizario ISD, Socorro ISD, Tornillo ISD, Ysleta ISD, Burnham Wood Charter Schools, IDEA Public Schools, and Harmony Public Schools ]
Yes, if you feel the best school for your child is not in your geographically defined district, you will need to complete an application, and for some schools, a transfer request. While this varies by school, this typically consists of a registration form (asking for the transfer school year, student information, guardian information, reason for transfer, and electronic signature). These forms are available in Spanish, and are free of charge to complete. Please also note that some school districts give a higher priority for student enrollment to students who reside within their designated district.
Listed on each school profile within School Finder is a link with more information on how to enroll, with deadline dates included. This information was collected via the school’s website, and might change each year. We encourage parents to reach out directly to the school for exact deadlines and registration information.
School Finder continually works with schools within our region to add new schools. If there is a school you would like to see added, please contact us. We currently only provide information on free, public schools in El Paso County.
El sitio web actual permite al usuario utilizar el Traductor Google o "Google Translate" para traducir la información en la página. Actualmente estamos trabajando para poder ofrecer un sitio web completamente en español. Para aquellos interesados en detalles específicos de los salones de clases, recomendamos comunicarse directamente con la escuela.
Term Definitions
The following terms may be used throughout the School Finder website. We have provided clarification on each term.
• A-F rating: In 2017 the Texas Legislature passed HB 22 establishing an accountability system to evaluate the academic performance of public schools. The state assigns an A through F rating to each school similar to how students receive an A-F rating. Unfortunately, the A-F rating doesn’t always take into account student performance, and when it does, it only measures if students are APPROACHING meeting standards not at the MEETS standards level.
• Alternative school: An educational program that is separate from a mainstream educational system and is designed especially for students that need additional support not provided in a traditional school setting.
• Charter school: A charter school is a tuition-free school of choice that is publicly funded but not state run.
• Early college: This term refers to the Early College High School initiative in the United States, which allows students to receive a high school diploma and an associate degree, or up to two years of college credit, by taking a mixture of high school and college classes.
• Intersession: A break period between two academic sessions or terms within the academic calendar year.
• Magnet school: Magnet schools are public schools that offer specialized programming to attract students from multiple districts. These schools tend to require a certain level of academic performance as part of attendance acceptance.
• MEETS state standards: The Texas Education Agency has adopted four performance metrics to track how students meet state academic standards. These metrics identify how prepared a student is for the next grade level and ultimately to attend higher education based on learning metrics within the current grade. The performance levels are: MASTERS, MEETS, APPROACHES, and DID NOT MEET grade level. Data shows that students who perform at the “MASTERS” and “MEETS" levels are well prepared for their next academic year and have a 75% and 60% chance of completing college, respectively. CREEED has adopted the MEETS level as our definition of a student being “college ready”.
• Number of students per teacher: The student to teacher ratio is calculated by dividing the number of full-time equivalent students by the number of full-time equivalent teachers at a given level of education. This is not an exact representation of the number of students per teacher in each classroom.