Gunter elementary and middle schools earn Purple Star status for serving military families

Children who arrive in Gunter on a parent's military orders will find two campuses with state recognition for helping them settle in. Gunter ISD announced Sept. 2, 2026, that Gunter Elementary School and Gunter Middle School earned the Texas Education Agency's Purple Star Campus designation for 2026–2028.

The district says each school has a designated military liaison who works with families during a move. Both campuses also keep resources suited to the demands of military life, according to the announcement.

A TEA guide written for military families describes what that help looks like in practice. Purple Star campuses assist with enrolling a new student and getting records sent over from the previous school, the agency says. They also help place children in the right classes and support them through repeated moves and a parent's deployment.

Gunter is in southwestern Grayson County, part of the Sherman–Denison metropolitan area rather than Cooke County, according to the district.

TEA runs the program and picks qualifying applicants each fall. Under agency criteria, a campus must name a military liaison, train its staff and post a webpage with information for military families. It must also operate a transition program for students and carry out at least one approved effort to support military households. A school does not need a minimum number of military-connected students to qualify, TEA says.

The recognition covers two school years. After that, a campus has to apply again to keep it, according to the agency.

The Texas Legislature created the designation in 2019 with Senate Bill 1557, and the rule putting it into effect took hold April 9, 2020, according to TEA. The agency said it tightened the application process for the 2025–2026 cycle and gave campuses more help showing they met the requirements.

On Sept. 3, a day after Gunter's announcement, TEA named 329 campuses to its 2026–2027 class. A state announcement the previous September put the number of military-connected students in Texas public schools at nearly 200,000.

The Military Child Education Coalition says children in military families move every two to three years. The group describes Purple Star programs as a way to ease the academic and emotional strain of changing schools. It reported that 44 states had such programs or approved legislation as of November 2025.

Other North Texas campuses appear on recent TEA award lists. The 2024–2025 list includes Lake Dallas High School and five Burkburnett ISD campuses. The 2025–2026 list includes Lake Dallas Elementary School and Grapevine Middle School, which was also recognized for 2023–2024. Grapevine-Colleyville ISD says that campus pairs its military liaisons and relocation help with a Veterans Day assembly and student-led celebrations for military families.

Across the Red River, Oklahoma grants the designation for three years before requiring recertification. Its education department lists Lawton, Altus, Enid and Mid-Del public schools among its fall 2025 honorees.