In 2009, the school district was rated "Recognized" by the Texas Education Agency.

[3] In 1997, 70.6% of the students were non-Hispanic white; of the four large suburban majority-white suburban school districts in the county, MISD had the highest percentage of white students.

It was one of the first Dallas-area school districts to implement a formal dress code, and Karel Holloway of The Dallas Morning News wrote in 2009 that "The district is well-known for its conservative standards for dress".

[7] In the 1970s the district sent a boy home from school because his hair touched his collar.

[7] Mesquite ISD operates an FM radio station called KEOM 88.5.