Liberty Hill ISD scored 85 on the Texas Education Agency’s 2025-26 accountability ratings for the second year in a row.

The local impact: The district maintained the same score from its 2024-25 school year despite $8 million in budget cuts, including reduced positions, according to a news release from LHISD. While all of LHISD's campuses earned an “acceptable” score of 70 or above, Liberty Hill Elementary School was the district’s only campus to be rated a “C.” Bar W Elementary School, Legacy Ranch Middle School and Rancho Sienna Elementary School earned an "A" rating, a score that 17% of campuses statewide achieved. 

The plan: “Our goal every year is that each student makes at least a year’s worth of growth,” LHISD Assistant Superintendent Heather Stoner said. “We are using this data to help identify where we can improve our systems and resources to ensure our teachers are empowered to have the greatest positive impact on student learning.”

Fine art studio Drawn2Art is dedicated to teaching drawing and painting as concrete skills, driven by the philosophy that “creativity follows mastery,” director Anna Sheklow said.

What they offer: Students in Drawn2Art’s classes begin with drawing and eventually move on to painting, manager Tatiana Gorunov said. Classes are available for children, teens and adults. The studio’s youngest students start at age 4.

Students are taught using individualized programs that allow them to move at their own pace, Sheklow explained. The studio’s step-by-step method of teaching traditional techniques ensures that any student can become a skilled artist, regardless of what level of experience or ability they start with, she said.

“The way we teach is the way the masters were teaching centuries ago,” Sheklow said. “This is how Rembrandt and Picasso and all the other great artists learned to draw.”

A Logistics Park in Georgetown, a hotel in Austin and a Scooter’s Coffee in Cedar Park are among the five most expensive projects filed with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation in the Austin metro this week.

1. Northland Project ($60 million): This project involves the interior finish out of an existing shell building.

2. Green Point Building 3 ($42 million): This project is part of the 231-acre GTX Logistics Park in Georgetown, and involves the construction of a 753,481 square foot concrete tiltwall warehouse shell.

3. East Austin 7th Street Hotel ($34 million): This project includes the construction of a new, 5-story commercial hotel.

4. Scooter's Coffee ($400,000): A new Scooter’s Coffee location is coming to Cedar Park, with construction set to wrap up in the spring.

5. Starbucks ($400,000): A new Starbucks location is coming to Bastrop, with construction set to wrap up in April.

Many Texas students began returning to the classroom for the 2026-27 school year in mid-August.

Here are five things Texans should know as the 2026-27 school year kicks off.

The details:

• 2026 school accountability ratings issued
• New rule impacts accountability-related school closures
• 100K students using new Texas Education Freedom Accounts
• Public school closures deepen across Texas
• Check out recent public education laws