Abilene ranked as the 17th city in the nation for their public education system, the highest ranked city in Texas. This award was given by Business Outlook Magazine in their September/October 2006 edition.
Abilene has two school districts within the city limits, the Abilene Independent School District (AISD) and award-winning Wylie Independent School District (WISD). Abilene also has a new high school that opened in the fall of 2009, the Academy of Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Science (A.T.E.M.S.). It is a S.T.E.M. school, which focuses on computer science, engineering science, and mathematics. The school only accepts about 100 students each year, provides students with their own laptop computers, and is located inside the Abilene campus of Texas State Technical College.
The city is also home to several higher education units, including three religiously affiliated private universities: Abilene Christian University (ACU), Hardin-Simmons University (HSU), and McMurry University (McM), as well as the Abilene campus of Cisco Junior College (CJC), a West Texas campus of Texas State Technical College (TSTC), and American Commercial College (ACC). In addition, a new Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Abilene Campus was recently built in north Abilene.