By Payton Robinson, EfTA Communications Intern
Senior at the Academy for Careers in Engineering & Science
CONROE, Texas (June 23, 2025) – The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Foundation named Conroe ISD as a recipient of the Best Communities for Music Education (BCME) Award for the 13th time. Conroe ISD is in a group of 13 Texas school districts to earn this recognition at least 13 times.
“Let me begin by thanking you, our CISD Board and Trustees, for your continued support of Fine Arts that allows for opportunities like this to be possible,” Dr. Bob Horton, CISD Director of Fine Arts said at the June 17 Board Meeting. “We are one of the 105 districts in Texas to earn this distinction, placing us in the top 10 percent of Texas and in the top one percent of the United States.”
“As a kid who kind of stood in the corner, whose only identity was music, how much that meant to me as a child and how much you pour into your students that feel that music is their instrument, it’s their voice," Trustee Tiffany Baumann Nelson said as she spoke to the music teacher present. "It’s when they don’t have a place to fit in other than music, you guys provide that for them. We are just so incredibly proud to have you all pour into our students and raise our excellence so much higher. On the behalf of the Conroe ISD Board of Trustees, we thank you and we congratulate you.”
The Best Communities for Music Education Award is a signature program of The NAMM Foundation that recognizes and celebrates school districts and schools for their support and commitment to music education and their efforts to ensure access to music for all students as part of a well-rounded education. Throughout the program’s 26 years, the foundation has recognized over 1,000 school districts and schools, combined, in 43 states.
The schools and communities recognized by the Best Communities for Music Education demonstrate a commitment to ensuring music learning opportunities are available for every student and provide an example for other communities to follow.