Budget cuts and bursting class sizes haven’t stopped two Washington-area high schools from producing more elite student scientists this year than any other high schools in the nation.

At Fairfax County’s Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, 13 students became semifinalists for the Intel Science Talent Search, the nation’s most prestigious high school science and math competition. At Montgomery County’s Blair High School, 12 students earned the honor. No other school in the United States had more than nine semifinalists of the 300 chosen overall.