The Conroe ISD board of trustees will host a special public meeting on Oct. 6 at 5 p.m. at 3205 West Davis St. in Conroe, which will be streamed on the district's YouTube page.

The gist: During the meeting, the board will address two main items:

• The board will vote to approve appraisers for the Texas Teacher Evaluation and Support System, a state-recommended appraisal system designed to support teacher growth through feedback and self-reflection.

• The board will receive a presentation on the district's bond process and long-term program management plan, which will address the current bond structure and management goals following the approval of various bond construction project contracts this past May.

On Oct. 1, the Lone Star College System board of trustees unanimously approved a fiscal year 2026-27 total tax rate of $0.1058 per $100 valuation.

This rate is $0.0002 lower than the previous fiscal year's rate and is budgeted to generate $356.2 million in tax revenue.

Diving deeper: The total tax rate consists of two parts:

• An M&O rate of $0.0839 per $100 valuation for college operations, including employee salaries and utilities

• An I&S rate of $0.0219 per $100 valuation to pay off bond debt, with leaders hoping to pay off $404 million in debt by approximately 2030 or 2031

What you should know: Taxpayers in the Harris Central Appraisal District are expected to see a drop in their college system property tax bill. However, some taxpayers in the Montgomery Central Appraisal District and the San Jacinto County Appraisal District are expected to see higher bills due to increased median property values.

Texas school districts using the state-developed Bluebonnet Learning curriculum saw slightly better year-over-year achievement last school year than other districts, according to Texas Education Agency data released Sept. 30.

What's happening: During the 2025-26 school year, 619 of Texas' roughly 1,200 public school districts opted in to implement at least one of the three Bluebonnet curriculum programs—elementary math, secondary math and elementary language arts.

On this spring's State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness exam, districts using the state-developed math materials saw student improvement that was 0.6 percentage points higher than students in other districts, while districts that implemented the reading materials performed 0.2 percentage points higher on the STAAR than other schools.

What they're saying: The TEA said the gains in student achievement an "encouraging sign of early progress."

Zeph Capo, president of the Texas American Federation of Teachers, a statewide educator union, disagreed, calling the results "rather paltry."

"It may take a few more years to determine if this is a valid trend or simply an anomaly," Capo said in a statement.