Texas House members filed a bevy of education bills last week, including a proposed $8 billion investment in public education and a voucher bill that ties the amount of money spent for private schooling to the dollar amount allotted to public schools.

Madison County was created from pieces of Grimes, Leon, and Walker Counties in 1853. There were several communities here with large Black populations, including Antioch, Connor, Concord, George. Greenbriar, North Zulch, Perry Hope, The Island, Rogers Prairie, Sand Prairie, Saw Prairie, Sweet Home, Pool Chapel, Rocky Hill, Cedar Creek, and Tanyard.

FROM THE DESK OF THE ELEMENTARY PRINCIPAL The Elementary campus is excited to once again participate in Texas Reads One Book, a special school/home-shared reading event. Through this program, every student in grades 2 through 5 received a copy of The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies.

FROM THE DESK OF THE SECONDARY PRINCIPAL I am excited for what the spring semester has in store for the students of NZISD. It is a busy spring packed with many activities for our students to participate in.

CAPITAL HIGHLIGHTS The Texas Lottery Commission and its former director are under scrutiny after they allegedly helped a single entity win a $95 million Lotto Texas Jackpot, the Houston Chronicle reported. Written testimony at a state legislative hearing last week from an attorney indicated an entity called Rook TX guaranteed it would win the jackpot by buying virtually every one of the nearly 26 million possible six-number combinations in the drawing, held in April 2023.

FROM THE DESK OF THE ATHLETIC DIRECTOR As we close out the winter season, let’s take a moment to celebrate the hard work, dedication, and perseverance of all our student-athletes. The basketball season for both the boys' and girls' teams has come to a close.

I located a treasure, a special section from the September 12, 1940, Meteor, headlined “Modern New Heath Clinic is Opened in Madisonville.” The same section contained facts about Heath Hospital, which preceded the clinic. I learned plenty!

I thought I’d provide a satirical situation with you in the patrol car driver’s seat this week. Dear Reader rest assured; I have been on calls that are nearly identical to this farcical fiction presented.

A bill to implement school vouchers in Texas sailed through the Senate largely on party lines last week and now awaits consideration in the House, the Austin American- Statesman reported. House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, said he believes there are enough votes in that chamber to pass the legislation, which was defeated a half-dozen times in 2023 by a coalition of Democratic and rural Republican members.