Some students live in hand-built houses that lack electricity or running water.
During the past decade, Mexican immigration and the development of new middle-class subdivisions have boosted enrollment by 1,500 to 2,000 students annually. Available funding has allowed the district to build only one school a year, leaving Socorro with a serious overcrowding problem. In the late 1980s, district officials saw the crunch developing and realized they needed to take action. Fewer than 30 percent of students in some schools were achieving mastery levels in Texas' yearly assessment exam. Overall failure rates were high, and attendance was poor.