South San ISD's Price Elementary beats out 9,000 schools for national recognition
May 1-A national nonprofit considered 9,000 schools across 25 states for its School of Promise Award, and South San Antonio Independent School District's Price Elementary was one of two schools ultimately selected for the accolade.
A nonprofit that works to create opportunities for educators and students, the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET) recognized the South San Antonio ISD elementary as a school of promise on Thursday. The award celebrates schools improving teacher development and student achievement.
To the chant of "Go, Cobras, go!" Price students cheered as their district leaders set off confetti cannons and accepted a $5,000 check Thursday. Students continued throwing confetti in the air and into their neighbors' hair in the campus cafeteria.
School leaders can use the $5,000 prize however they wish to continue supporting the growth of teachers and its students, and SSAISD spokesperson Alexis LaFosse said the campus plans to use the money to fund student programming.
First opened in 1952, Price Elementary came to the attention of the NIET team through campus scores on the statewide A-F rating system that bested the state average in 2023-24 and 2024-25, according to LaFosse. The campus oversaw improved student learning in math and reading - while the state average performance declined.
Between 2024 and 2025, the percentage of Price students at grade level in third grade math rose from 27% to 53%. The percentage of third graders reading at grade level increased from 29% to 47% in the same span of time.
District-wide data from the 2024-25 academic year showed that less than 40% of South San students were reading at grade level and 25% were on level in math. The Texas Education Agency rated South San Antonio ISD a D in its A-F letter grade scale - the lowest score of any Bexar County school district. Scores are largely based on student results from the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, tests.
The TEA took over the district in February 2025 due to board governance issues. The state installed a new superintendent, Saul Hinojosa, and an appointed board of managers in place of elected leadership. Since the takeover, the district has reported initial improvements in test scores.
South San serves over 7,000 students in the south and southwest portions of San Antonio.
Chasing an A-rating
Hinojosa told the crowded Price cafeteria on Thursday that he hoped the campus' rating would soon become an "A" after this year's STAAR testing, which students took last week. While the district won't receive its final testing results until June, local assessment data shows the campus has a good chance of earning an A, LaFosse said.
Edward Mungia, a San Antonio City Council member who represents District 4 and briefly served as a school board member in South San, told the Price Elementary students that his first home was in their neighborhood. He praised the campus' teachers for showing up each day to invest in the community's kids.
He encouraged the students to use the national award as motivation to keep chasing their dreams.
"This is the neighborhood that my mom grew up in, and my grandparents lived there for many, many years," Mungia said. "I know there are doctors in here. There are firefighters, there are policemen. There's probably a councilman or a councilwoman in here. There's the next county commissioner in this in this room, and there's probably a future U.S. president."
Before starting chants of "Go, Spurs, go," and "Go, Cobras, go," Bexar County Precinct 1 Commissioner Rebeca Clay-Flores assigned the students the homework of learning how to spell "college," so they could begin focusing on long-term goals.
"You got a national award. That doesn't mean that you got an award that you beat kids from the North Side, the West Side, or from Dallas. You guys beat people from New York, from California," Clay-Flores said.
"And just like the Spurs beat the Portland Trailblazers, you guys beat out people from Portland, just like the Spurs," she concluded, inspiring cheers and celebration.
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