In the 1890s, the town of Wylie had been served by a small school[4] operating on a limited budget, primarily contributed by the parents of the students of the schools. Ovid Birmingham noticed this problem while traveling and established Wylie ISD in 1901–1902. He set limits of the district that all citizens in that area would pay taxes to support the district. The Birmingham family soon provided money to build the original Wylie High School. Wylie High has resided in several different buildings in its history.
Beginning in the 1976 school year, Wylie High School moved to a new building at 516 Hilltop Lane. This building could hold up to 600 students prior to the 1985 expansion of the school. Once the new Wylie High School was opened in 1996, this building was converted into Wylie Junior High School, later becoming Burnett Junior High School, named after the former principal of Wylie High School, Grady Burnett.
Wylie East High School was opened for the 2007–2008 school year. The school initially served solely ninth grade students. Wylie East became a 9-12 school, with the Class of 2012 being the first class to graduate after the district voted to have multiple 9-12 campuses in January 2008. Wylie East began the 2009–2010 school year with freshmen and sophomores.[citation needed] Wylie ISD serves most of the city of Wylie, including the city of St. Paul, a portion of the city of Murphy, and the Collin County portion of the city of Sachse. Enrollment has grown to just over 19,000 students with more than 2000 full-time employees.
In 2020, then current principal Virdie Montgomery drove 800 miles to personally congratulate all 612 graduating seniors after graduation ceremonies were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[5] Wylie High School's current principal is Brian Alexander.[6]
