The Cleburne School District has a long and distinguished heritage dating back to the year 1884, with its first graduate, Bertha Clements being handed her diploma in the spring of 1892. From its beginnings as a one ward district which served the children of the Santa Fe Railroad shops, Cleburne ISD has grown into a nationally recognized school system that focuses on high academic standards built on a foundation of basic education principles. 

Much of the community’s history centers around the railroad. The machine shops of the Santa Fe Railroad, which were located in Cleburne, employed residents for several generations. One of CISD’s first elementary schools was named for the Santa Fe Railroad. Despite the closing of the shops in the 1990s, rail access to three major rail lines continues to make the Cleburne industrial park highly marketable. The city’s newest attraction, The Depot, is another nod to this heritage, as the home of the Cleburne Railroaders minor league baseball team.

The construction of Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant in nearby Glen Rose brought engineers from a different industry to Cleburne, along with their families. The response to this new growth in the late 1970s eventually led to the construction of a new elementary school, the first to be built in more than 30 years, along with a change in the community’s culture and climate. The diversity within Cleburne’s population has continued to evolve over the years. A celebration of the 29 countries represented by our District’s students and staff occurs during Texas Public Schools Week with the annual CISD Multicultural Fair, co-sponsored by the City of Cleburne.