KinderCare recently opened its doors for business in Leander. The daycare center offers programming for children aged 6 weeks to 5 years.

The details: The daycare center, which opened Dec. 29, offers a range of small group pull-out programs focused on music, phonics and cooking. Additionally, the center features an indoor gym. KinderCare is also offering a summer camp for school-aged children and children above the age of three who have been in district programming during the school year. The program, which has open enrollment, will begin on June 1.

According to a representative from the business, the summer camp will feature weekly themes and science education. Additionally, the camp will include events such as a petting zoo and programming from community institutions, such as the fire department, library and police department.

One more thing: The Leander location hosted a grand opening event April 23. KinderCare has locations across the Austin area, including Anderson Mill and Round Rock.

• 441 W. Broade St, Leander

Leander City Council voted 6-0 to approve a motion that allocates $4.26 million towards three road improvement projects at its April 16 meeting.

The details: The $4.26 million will be split across three projects, with the largest portion going towards upgrades to San Gabriel Parkway between Bagdad Road to US 183. The $3.36 million project seeks to expand the current two-lane road to four lanes, with the option to widen to six in the future. 

Another $313,326 will fund design services for improvements at the intersection of Grand Lake Parkway and East Crystal Falls Parkway. The remaining $595,178 will go toward design work on the San Gabriel Parkway Phase 2A project.

The context: "With our growth to the west, specifically with LISD's new child development center, we feel the need to jump on this as quickly as possible," CIP Manager Tony Bettis said.

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Some Texas families began learning April 22 if they were accepted to the state’s education savings account program for the 2026-27 school year, officials said.

The big picture: Over 42,600 students will receive funding notices through April 24, the state comptroller’s office announced April 22. The first awardees include low- and middle-income students with disabilities and their eligible siblings.

Families accepted to the Texas Education Freedom Accounts program will receive state funds to send their children to private school or homeschool them.

The details: The first round of awardees is set to receive about $400 million of the $1 billion allocated for the program. Up to 100,000 students are expected to qualify for the program's first year.

The comptroller's office will run a lottery the week of April 27 to determine which low-income students will be accepted based on a prioritization system.

Stay tuned: Families that do not qualify for funding will also be notified through April 24. Additional students will receive funding awards in the coming weeks, a program spokesperson said.