By CONSTANCIO MARTINEZ, JR.
Special to the PRESS
October 31, 2025 was the date the University Interscholastic League (UIL) has set aside as “Snapshot Day”, a day when all schools participating in UIL events were to submit their attendance numbers.
The UIL uses these enrollment numbers every two years to separate different sized schools into six classes (6A-1A) and into two divisions (Division 1 & Division 2).
In football, Port Isabel Early College High School currently resides in district 16-4A Division 2 along with Kingsville, La Feria and La Grulla schools. PIECHS has always been a cornerstone in 16-4A Division 2 since the creation of the district in 2014, with several schools joining the district and others departing for several years now.
Port Isabel is approaching the lower 2024-2025 cutoff numbers with its reported 567 enrollment, but it looks like it will remain in the same district once again. As far as the other current district teams, La Feria who joined the district in this past alignment with a 931 enrollment has dropped down to 872, marking a loss of 59 students. La Grulla saw a 35-student drop and is now at 875, meanwhile Kingsville which had a 118 drop now stands at 816.
The yet to be determined 2026-27 conference cutoff numbers will probably not deviate too much from the current 4A Div. 2 range of 545 to 956 with Div. 1 schools being at 957 to 1314. So, all teams seem to be staying in the district with Kingsville possibly being the exception as it depends on how district 15-4A Div. 2 (coastal bend area) shapes up.
New to the district will be Hidalgo which lost 97.5 students (averaged over two enrollment dates) and will drop down from 16-4A Division 1.
In the past, PIECHS has been one of the schools with the larger enrollments, but it is now the smallest school in the district. The 2026-2027 enrollment number marks a 29-student dropped from the previous 2-year submission and is the lowest ever submitted since 2000. On a side note, PIHS highest enrollment in that timeframe was 701 during the 2006-2007 alignment.
Other sports like basketball, volleyball, baseball, etc. also depend on the enrollments, but their class and division breakdowns are often different as more or less schools participate in those sports.
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