Kingwood Music School is hosting a celebration April 18 in honor of its 40th anniversary, school officials confirmed April 6. 

The details: Founded in 1986, Kingwood Music School is one of the oldest businesses in Kingwood, school officials said. 

To commemorate the anniversary, the school is holding an open house from 1-4 p.m. April 18 featuring student performances, face painting, balloon art and a bouncy house. Additionally, the event will include free popcorn, gourmet popsicles, prizes and an '80s-themed photo booth.

What else? Per officials, Kingwood Music School is performing at Carnegie Hall in New York in June.

“Forty-eight of our students and teachers will be traveling to the most prestigious concert hall in the world to give a gala performance in celebration of the school's 40th anniversary,” school officials said. “This is an extraordinary opportunity for our Kingwood students to shine on an international stage.”

Kingwood Music School offers various music lessons, including voice, piano, drums, bass and violin, according to the website.

• 3427 W. Lake Houston Parkway, Humble

Enrollment for Humble ISD’s 2026-27 school year is now open to all incoming and new students, according to the district’s enrollment website.

The details: Students who will be required to enroll include:

• Students who have never attended a school in HISD
• Students who had previously attended a school in HISD but withdrew before the school year ended and need to re-enroll

A public-private partnership called Let's Play Houston will distribute $60 million worth of park upgrades across all 11 Houston City Council districts. Two to three parks per district were selected for improvements through the citywide program.

Why it matters: The program is led by Mayor John Whitmire's administration, the Houston Parks Board, and the Houston Parks and Recreation Department, along with corporate and foundation support. Once improvements are complete, Let's Play Houston will represent the largest investment in neighborhood parks in the city's history, according to a March 31 news release.

What you need to know: A total of 25 parks will be revitalized through the program, a process that will be advanced in phases. As of late March, 11 parks are currently in the design phase, with the other 14 conducting initial community engagement to help develop the scopes of work for the park renovations.

Project officials said more than 40 engagement events were conducted during the initial phase of the process.

Student homelessness increased across many Greater Houston-area school districts over the last five school years, while foster care numbers showed a more uneven pattern from district to district, according to Texas Education Agency data released March 6.

The overview: Community Impact reviewed TEA data for 28 Greater Houston-area school districts to compare the number of enrolled students identified as experiencing homelessness or living in foster care in 2025-26 versus 2021-22. In the foster care data, Fort Bend ISD and Aldine ISD had the highest counts in 2025-26. 

In the homelessness data, Houston ISD stood above the rest of the districts shown, nearing 6,000 students in 2025-26. Other districts, including Alief ISD, Clear Creek ISD, Conroe ISD and Fort Bend ISD, all showed higher homeless student counts in 2025-26 than in 2021-22, while several others were flat or down.

Funding for Texas’ education savings account program is expected to dry up before it reaches all low-income applicants, the state comptroller’s office announced April 2.

The overview: More than a quarter of a million students applied for the first year of Texas Education Freedom Accounts, which will give participating families access to state funds to send their children to private school or homeschool them.

The details: Most eligible students will be placed on a waitlist for the 2026-27 school year, as the $1 billion program is expected to serve between 90,000 and 100,000 students. State officials said all funds are expected to go to students with disabilities, their siblings and children from low-income families.

The state will use a four-tier, randomized lottery system to determine who is accepted. Once funding runs out, the remaining students will be placed on a waitlist.

How it works: Students with disabilities can receive up to $30,000 each in ESA funding, depending on their individual needs. Other accepted students will receive $10,474 for private education or $2,000 for homeschooling.