The school system for Donna traces back to a 1904 school in the Run community, 6 miles south, where classes were first held in the home of A.F. Hester, a founder of Donna. The earliest school for the new town opened in 1908, and teachers held classes in a one-room structure and a store building until the first schoolhouse was completed in 1911. The Donna School District was established in 1919, and since then several early area schools, including Run in 1972, have merged with Donna. It is now one of Hidalgo County's leading educational systems.