Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ) Early College High School is a public high school in northeast Austin, Texas. At the time of its opening in 1974, LBJ was only the second high school in the U.S. (after the former Johnson City High School) to be named for the 36th President. In 1985, LBJ became the host of a new academic magnet program, the Science Academy of Austin (SA), which drew students from all over the city. A second high school magnet program, the Liberal Arts Academy of Austin (LAA), was opened at Albert Sidney Johnston High School in 1987; the two programs were merged in 2002, forming the Liberal Arts and Science Academy (LASA) magnet within LBJ. In 2007, the Austin Independent School District split LASA and LBJ into separate high schools with their own principals, faculty, and staff in order for LBJ to be eligible for a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to implement the "First Things First" educational enrichment program. After the split, LBJ and LASA were housed on the same campus (though largely on different floors) and continued to share athletic teams and certain extracurricular activities and electives (band, theater, newspaper, yearbook, choir, orchestra, etc.) until LASA's relocation. In 2011, via a partnership with the Austin Community College, LBJ established a new program through which students could earn up to 60 college credits while still in high school, earning it the "Early College High School" (ECHS) designation it bears today. In 2021, LASA relocated to the former Eastside Memorial Early College High School campus.
LBJ Early College High School's mascot is the Jaguar, and the school's colors are purple and white.
The principal of LBJ Early College High School is Jon Bailey. Patrick Patterson, who had been at the school since the 2004-2005 school year as part of the high school campus redesign program initiated to help raise TAKS scores, retired after the 2009-2010 school year. As a result of the split, LASA and LBJ are required to have separate principals.
From 2007 to 2021, the school occupied the first floor of its campus, while LASA was on the second floor. Melissa B. Taboada of the Austin American-Statesman stated that some members of the Austin community "say the division [was] a constant blemish on the campus".