This is our accountability lane — roughly one in five Standard stories. Plain-English coverage of City Council, the school board, MUDs, and the county, by reporters who actually attend the meetings. The other four out of five stories are the Magnolia we love.
Civic · Montgomery County A unanimous October 8 vote asks legislators for limited land-use authority in unincorporated areas. The county cannot zone today. There is no bill yet; the Legislature meets January 12.
NEW · READ IT → Schools · Magnolia ISD The water stopped Monday morning, and the cooling with it, because the chillers run on the campus well. No class Tuesday or Wednesday, reopened Thursday. What parents said, what the district said, and what is still unanswered.
NEW · READ IT → Civic · City of Montgomery Schier Construction, $8,354,190, about $746,000 under the estimate: a well and a 500,000-gallon tower near Old Plantersville Road. When the clock starts, the tan paint that saved $75,000, and the debt paying for it.
NEW · READ IT → Politics · Elections Registration closes October 5; early voting runs October 19 to 30 at ten sites, one of them new at 11731 FM 1488. The ballot now names the six appraisal board candidates, in a race that drew 4 percent of voters the first time.
NEW · READ IT → Schools · Construction The Magnolia ISD board approved contracts September 15 for the third high school and two elementaries. Elementary No. 10 gets its price February 8. What a guaranteed maximum price is, and what is not set yet.
NEW · READ IT → Schools · Report Card The state scored the district 87 out of 100, up from 86 and 85, with 47 distinctions against 26 last year. Both high schools are A campuses; Bear Branch Intermediate and Magnolia Elementary came in at 79.
NEW · READ IT → Politics · Two Views The Republican incumbent since 2019 and the Democrat who has never held office, side by side on growth, the budget, the courthouse and the jail. Registration closes October 5.
NEW · READ IT → Civic Watch · County A $546.8 million budget and a rate of 38.60 cents, up from 37.70. About $30 a year more for the median homestead. The two no votes were about across-the-board raises, not the rate.
NEW · READ IT → Politics · Elections Three at-large seats on the Montgomery Central Appraisal District board are on the November 3 ballot. The county has posted the deadline and has not posted early voting locations yet.
NEW · READ IT → Civics · Consumer Solar salespeople have to register with the state. You get a right to the parts and manuals for your own electronics. Volunteer firefighters can be paid more. What actually takes effect today, and what does not.
NEW · READ IT → Civic Watch · Schools Magnolia ISD adopted a total rate of $0.9325, down 2.58 cents. All of the cut came off operations. The debt rate did not move, which is exactly what the May bond promised. By P.J. Carver.
NEW · READ IT → Roads · Magnolia Only the piece of Smith that meets FM 1488, and only while crews put a concrete box culvert in the ground for storm drainage. The date is an expectation, not a promise.
NEW · READ IT → Civic Watch · Development Three Chapter 380 agreements signed inside twelve months. One of them hands up to $3 million to a project whose zoning the council still has not approved. And one condition written into all three that changes what the number means. By Eleanor Reese.
NEW · READ IT → Civic Watch · Your Money Both facts come off figures the city publishes itself. One of those three years, the legal maximum was still less money than the year before. And the rate you are paying right now is not on the published table, so we went and got it. By P.J. Carver.
NEW · READ IT → First Responders · Greater Magnolia The fire department covers an area larger than the city itself and answers a call every 63 minutes. The figures are the ones the department publishes about itself.
NEW · READ IT → Civic Watch · Utilities Investor-owned companies like Quadvest, Aqua Texas and Texas Water Utilities serve much of the growth ring. Their rates go through the Public Utility Commission, and complaints have a specific path. By Sam Holloway.
NEW · READ → City Services · Public Health Cypress Creek Pest Control started weekly evening rounds July 17 and runs through October. Most people with a Magnolia address live outside the boundary the sprayer follows.
NEW · READ → Roads · Right Now A second notice, posted the same Friday evening, closes FM 1774 at FM 1488 northbound for sixteen days of pavement work. School starts inside that window.
NEW · READ → Civic Watch · Your Money Every taxing unit that touches your address sets its rate over the next two months. The county has a sign-up that emails you when yours moves.
NEW · READ → Civic Watch · County Commissioners hired a courthouse architect July 9. A bond on the November ballot needs a cost estimate by mid-August, which leaves about five weeks to produce one.
NEW · READ → Civic · City Hall The Livable Centers Study — walkability, traffic, safety and downtown economics — holds its Citizen Advisory Group meeting Monday, July 28 at 6 p.m.
NEW · READ → Politics · City Hall In one meeting: a new city administrator on day one, a 6-1 vote to let a resident committee shape the ethics policy, and the Amarillo Drive rebuild approved.
NEW · READ → Politics · Civic The city council continued its review of a 59-acre mixed-use plan near FM 1488, FM 1774, and Goodson Road. No vote yet.
NEW · READ → Politics · Your Vote The Texas general election is November 3. To vote, you have to be registered by October 5. The deadlines, the early-voting window, and the number to call.
NEW · READ → Civics · Explainer Most of Magnolia's newer neighborhoods are run by a Municipal Utility District: a small government that taxes you, borrows in your name, and holds elections almost nobody notices.
NEW · READ → Civic Watch · Two Views A developer wants retail and housing on the west side, and up to $3 million in city incentives to build it. The council has met on it twice without a yes. Both sides, same column width, you decide.
NEW · READ → Schools · Growth Two months after the vote, Magnolia ISD has its construction managers lined up and about 100 acres picked out on FM 1486 for a third high school. The district says the tax rate holds. We note what to watch.
NEW · READ → Roads · Service Journalism The western half is 98% done and wrapping this quarter. The stretch through town isn't scheduled to finish until late 2027. Why the widening feels endless, and which parts open when.
NEW · READ → Civic Watch · Explainer A lower rate can still be a higher bill. What the no-new-revenue rate means, when the hearings happen, and how to actually be heard before the county's number is final.
NEW · READ → Greater Magnolia · Growth A $2.3 million rework of McCown Street, the first ordinance overhaul in decades, and a long-awaited grocery store. We start covering the towns Magnolia grows into.
NEW · READ → Civic · City Hall A few weeks in, Mayor Chris Blair sat down with the chamber's Business Brief podcast. Nine roads headed to a July 9 vote, an FM 1488 that is not the city's to fix, and an end to the tax incentives he says "backfired on our infrastructure".
NEW · READ → Civic Watch · Public Money On May 2, voters approved letting Emergency Services District 10 collect more sales tax, 68% to 32%. What the money buys, and how it shifts more of the cost off homeowners and onto the register.
NEW · READ IT → Civic Watch · Two Views A billion-dollar, 200-acre development behind City Hall, a petition past 2,600 signatures, and no council vote yet. The strongest case for and against, equal column width, and a "You decide" close.
PUBLISHED · READ IT → Civic · City Hall Chris Blair won the May 2 race to lead the city. Who's running City Hall now, the priorities he ran on, and the one Tuesday a month residents get the floor.
PUBLISHED · READ IT → Ballot Watch On May 2, voters approved the $465.7M Proposition A, 63.51% to 36.49%. Here's the line-by-line read: what it builds, what it costs, and why the district says the tax rate doesn't move.
PUBLISHED · READ IT → Commissioners Court Montgomery County's 2026-27 budget gets decided in August and September, with a possible $250M–$700M courthouse looming behind it. The calendar, the numbers, and the two days the public gets a say.
PUBLISHED · READ IT → Local Elections Every Local Race on Your Ballot — Profiled, Independent, Free
City council, ISD board, JP, water district, MUD. We'll publish a candidate profile for every contested race, with the same set of questions, and no campaign committee will see them in advance.
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