District Information

Godley ISD covers more than 122 square miles mostly in Johnson County, with small areas of Hood and Tarrant Counties also within the district boundaries.  

The school district has six campuses and serves approximately 3,000 students.  

Godley High School serves students in grades 9-12 and provides a complete array of curricular and extracurricular programs. For students in grades 7-8, Godley Middle School provides extensive extra-curricular programs that complement the curriculum. Godley 6th Grade Campus serves students in that grade level.

The school district is divided into three elementary attendance zones for students in grades K-5: Legacy Elementary School, Pleasant View Elementary School and R.B. Godley Elementary School. In addition, full-day pre-kindergarten is available at both Pleasant View and R.B. Godley.

An alternative education program is provided for high school students through LINKS Academy, which is located at the sixth-grade campus.

The DAEP Center provides an alternative setting for students who must be removed from the regular instructional program for disciplinary reasons.  

According to The Handbook of Texas, “Godley is on State Highway 171, Farm roads 2331 and 917, and the tracks of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad nine miles northwest of Cleburne in northwestern Johnson County. It was established in 1886 and named for R. B. Godley, a Cleburne lumber merchant who donated an eight-acre tract for a townsite and twenty acres of land as a right-of-way to the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway. A station was constructed in 1886. By 1888, when the post office opened, Godley had a gristmill, three cotton gins, and two dairy-processing plants. Four years later it had two general stores. By the mid-1920s the population was 613. In 1930 it was 378, and twenty-two rated businesses operated locally. In the 1940s the town had a population of 317 and twenty businesses. By 1956 it had a population of 424 and sixteen businesses, and by 1990 it had 569 people and twelve businesses. In 2000 the population was 879.”

A historical marker at the Legacy campus outlines the history of the school district:  “The town of Godley began in 1886, as rancher and lumber merchant R.B. Godley donated land for a townsite and right-of-way to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad. Predating the railroad town was the local school, as Johnson County Commissioners Court formed Godley Independent School District in July 1884. Dr. John I. Pearson was one of the earliest teachers. Godley College began in 1899 in a three-story frame building, becoming Godley High School three years later. A three-story brick building opened in time for graduation in 1916. Godley School experienced great growth in the late 1930s through rural school consolidation and federal New Deal agency aid. A 1937 gymnasium and 1939 auditorium enlarged the existing campus. The auditorium (later a library) was completed with financial and labor assistance through the National Youth Administration. A new main building, completed in 1940 with Works Progress Administration funds, joined the gymnasium and auditorium into a single building and an unusually large facility for a rural school. School buildings from Bruce, Pleasant View and Cottonwood were moved here as part of the new construction. Godley School housed all grades until 1967 when a new elementary school was built. After 1984 the school became a middle school, then an intermediate school in 2000. The Godley School consists of one-story wings connecting a two-story main building and an auditorium and gymnasium in a modified rectangular plan. The exterior is clad with native stone in a giraffe rock pattern. Dark brick is laid in a stack bond variation, with alternating runners and stretchers. Multi-pane windows and Spanish Colonial-style entries are also prominent.”

The school complex was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 2010. The building is still in use as the Legacy Elementary School and also houses the Godley ISD Administration Offices.