College Station City Council unanimously voted Aug. 13 to schedule a public hearing on a proposed property tax rate of $0.530254 per $100 valuation of property for fiscal year 2026-27. This rate has not been adopted.

The council is scheduled to hold the public hearing at 6 p.m. Aug. 27 at City Hall, when council members are expected to further consider the tax rate and the city’s proposed budget.

By the numbers: The city’s certified taxable values changed from the figures used during earlier budget discussions. Leonard said the city began the tax-rate calculation with adjusted prior-year certified taxable values of approximately $14.1 billion. That figure reflects adjustments following appraisal review and litigation.

The city’s no-new-revenue tax rate, which is the rate Leonard said would generate about the same amount of property tax revenue as the previous year, after required adjustments, is increasing by 1.64 cents.

Looking ahead: The council will have an opportunity to further discuss the proposed tax rate and budget before adopting the final rate.

Curious Collections, Bryan-College Station’s Aggie-owned record shop, is set to open its new “record garage” location Aug. 17. It had been operating for nearly a decade on Rosemary Drive.

What's happening: Curious Collections has been in the process of moving to its new location in Bryan for months. As previously reported by Community Impact, the owners said they were grateful for almost 10 years on Rosemary, but were “keen on staying independent, while moving just one mile up the road and transforming a vintage service station into an outdoor garage setting.”

What’s next: Curious Collections says it is the only vinyl record shop within 100 miles to do official listening parties for albums before official release, and she said the shop has many to look forward to. With students returning to Texas A&M University in late August, Jean is looking forward to students and residents visiting the new location.

• Reopened Aug. 17

• 3901 East 29th Street, Bryan

Need to catch up on news from the past week in the Bryan-College Station area? Check out these stories.

1. Inside Brazos County’s multi-million-dollar building boom

2. Bryan City Council approves Texas Avenue median removal measure for November ballot

3. Bryan ISD approves $1.8M in security agreements; Virtual Academy draws 230+ applicants

4. Bryan gym with women-only options opening soon

5. Bryan ISD calls November election for proposed tax rate increase
    

The Texas Education Agency released public school accountability ratings for the 2025-26 school year on Aug. 14.

"We use [A-F ratings] as a way to evaluate our own performance as adults, and then build action plans so that the way that we run our schools next year can be even better than last year," Education Commissioner Mike Morath said during an Aug. 14 news conference.

The overview: Across the state, 85% of campuses received a C rating or higher, which is considered “acceptable" academic performance.

Schools are rated based on three criteria: student achievement, school progress and closing the gaps.

Zooming in: At least one district, Austin ISD, is at risk of being taken over by the TEA after two of its middle school campuses received their fifth consecutive failing grades this year. State law requires the agency to shutter those campuses or take control of the district.

Any potential state-mandated closures or takeovers will not happen immediately, as districts with concerns about their ratings have through Sept. 11 to appeal scores to the TEA.