Fort Bend Independent School District

Fort Bend Independent School District was created by the consolidation of the Sugar Land ISD and Missouri City ISD in 1959. The school district is the seventh largest public school system in the state of Texas and third largest within the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown Metropolitan Area. The school district is currently the largest employer in Fort Bend County with more than 9,000 district employees, and encompasses some of the wealthiest locales in the State of Texas.

The district is the only school district in the nation to be named a 2011 National School District of Character by the National Schools of Character Program in Washington DC-and only one of two districts in Texas to be honored with this designation. The Washington Post ranked Clements, Austin, Kempner, Travis, Dulles, Hightower and Elkins High Schools as seven of the Top 2011 High Schools in the Nation.

Originally FBISD was racially segregated, with white high school students attending the consolidated Dulles High School, with its permanent campus in Sugar Land, and black high school students attending M.R. Wood School in Sugar Land. In 1963, FBISD had 600 students. The school district desegregated in September 1965; in the post-desegregation period Dulles was the district's sole high school until Willowridge High School opened in 1979. In 1969 the school district had 1,000 students, and its enrollment was increasing. Between 1979 and 1997, a new high school opened at intervals no more than five years apart. The district became the fastest growing school district in the State of Texas. In August 1997 the district had over 14,000 students at its high schools, then numbering six.

FBISD's current administration building is located in Sugar Land, near the Town Square and First Colony Mall. There is also the FBISD Annex, which contains an auditorium/banquet hall for FBISD, as well as a shop for teachers of FBISD.

Seventy percent of the district's campuses received an Exemplary or Recognized rating from the Texas Education Agency in 2002. That same year, the district was named a Recognized District by the Texas Education Agency for the second consecutive year, making it one of the largest public school districts in Texas to receive that rating. Currently the district is ranked "academically acceptable" and has been for the last several years.

The current Superintendent is Charles E. Dupre who was hired in 2013 after Dr. Jenney retired and left. Dupre previously served in Pflugerville Independent School District. In June 2008, the University Council for Education Administration, housed at the University of Texas at Austin, awarded Dupre the Excellence in Education Leadership Award for his dedication to improving the training and development of school leaders.

Fort Bend ISD opened several magnet programs to foster small learning communities with a career based focus. Several Academies are housed at different schools and are magnet programs that require an application. The District provides busing throughout the district for Academy students, irrespective of which school they choose to attend, located at their zoned Elementary Campus (or another location deemed appropriate by staff/parents). A few of the Academies were shut down due to low application and attendance rates.