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Chipotle, the fast-casual Mexican restaurant chain famous for its enormous burritos, is continuing its expansion plans in South Texas with what will be its seventh location in the Rio Grande Valley.

The Chipotle coming to North Sharyland Crossing, a new retail development located at the corner of North Shary Road and Victoria Road in the affluent Sharyland community east of the city of Mission in Hidalgo County, will become the fifth location to open in the Valley’s most populous county and the seventh in the four-county region overall.

Construction of the restaurant building’s shell is slated to begin next month, according to Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) records, which are subject to change. Completion of the 2,336-square-foot building is expected to take a year and come at a cost of just over $550,000, according to TDLR.

The Sharyland Chipotle is one of two new locations currently in the works in Hidalgo County. In April, TDLR records showed developers registered another location set to be built at 4112 S. Business Highway 281 in Edinburg. That location, which lies at the corner of Trenton Road and Business Highway 281, is fast becoming one of the busiest retail corridors in Edinburg, thanks to the nearby Shoppes at Rio Grande Valley retail plaza.

Back in Mission, the Sharyland Crossing Chipotle will join another burgeoning retail center smack dab in the middle of Mission’s well-established commercial core, which is already home to an H-E-B Plus!, Target, Home Depot, T.J. Maxx, and Ross. Also nearby is the city-owned Mission Event Center, a 40,000-square-foot full-service event venue.

Outside of Hidalgo County, Chipotle also has two locations in Cameron County, including one in Harlingen and one in Brownsville.

On Monday, June 9, Fortune magazine reported that Chipotle’s nationwide expansion plans include opening a new location almost every 24 hours. Chipotle CEO Scott Boatwright told the magazine that the company plans to add more than 300 new restaurants this year to its roster of over 3,700 existing locations.

San Antonio school districts fell behind in reading and math on this year’s STAAR end-of-course exams, reflecting ongoing challenges in adapting to a new test format and closing pandemic-related learning gaps.

Every year, Texas high school students must pass five tests — covering Algebra I, Biology, English I, English II and U.S. History — to graduate. In San Antonio, most school districts saw a drop in passing rates in every subject except Biology on the spring 2025 exams, according to results released Tuesday by the Texas Education Agency.

The biggest drops were in Algebra I and English II. On average, passing rates for San Antonio school districts decreased by four percentage points in Algebra I and three points in English II.

The trend matches a statewide decrease in the number of high school students who passed — or, in the state’s lingo, were rated “approaching grade level” — in reading and math.

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“Texas students and educators continue to work hard to demonstrate academic excellence,” Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath said in a statement. “At the same time, we also recognize that too many students are still not where they need to be academically.”

The lower scores come three years after the STAAR, which stands for State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness, was shifted online and revamped to better align with classroom instruction. Last year for the first time, the TEA used an automated computer system to grade essays and open-ended responses.

The scores suggest that students haven’t gotten used to the new format yet. Across the 19 school districts analyzed by the Express-News, 35% of students received a zero on the essay portion of the English II exam.

Morath says the STAAR is a dependable tool for evaluating the success of teaching strategies. Critics say it creates unnecessary stress for students and forces an ineffective “teach to the test” mentality for educators.

In May, state lawmakers suggested replacing the assessments with a series of shorter exams — which would have been the most dramatic redesign since the STAAR was established in 2011. But the legislature failed to reach an agreement, meaning students will continue taking the exam for at least two more years.

A district’s performance on the exam affects the A-F accountability grade it receives from the state. Accountability ratings for the 2023 school year were released last month after a two-year court fight, and 2025 grades are expected to come out in August.

Results for the third- through eighth-grade STAAR exams will be made public on June 17.

Losing ground

Of the 19 area school districts analyzed by the Express-News, all saw passing rates either fall or stay the same in Algebra I compared to last year, while 16 did worse in English II, the final of two reading- and writing-based tests taken in high school.

In Northside ISD, San Antonio’s largest district where about 7,800 to 8,800 tests were taken in each subject, students “approaching grade level” in Algebra I fell from 82% in spring 2024 to 78% this year.

In English II, the percentage of students passing dropped from 81% to 78%. Outcomes declined by one percentage point in English I to 72%, and U.S. History to 95%.

The district of over 100,000 students only saw improvement in Biology, with 95% of test-takers passing, compared to 94% last spring.

San Antonio ISD saw similar decreases in its passing rates — from 72% to 67% in Algebra I; 61% to 57% in English II and 51% to 49% in English I. Passing thresholds held steady in Biology at 84% and U.S. History at 91%.

North East ISD followed the same pattern, with its passing rate falling three points to 76% in English II. For Algebra I, 80% of students passed, compared with 81% last spring.

Villafranca Shaeffer, the district’s executive director of secondary education, said the district anticipates some declines because it lets students take the Algebra I exam as early as seventh grade through its Hyper-Accelerated Math and Accelerated Math programs.

She said the district will continue to focus next year on increasing opportunities for literacy development, especially closing achievement gaps in reading exacerbated by the pandemic.

“We’re still on the journey of closing some of the gaps that happened pre-pandemic,” Shaeffer said. “If you miss out on a whole year or year and a half of that opportunity to engage socially with your content that you’re learning, it loses the stickiness because those students don’t take that deep connection to what they’re experiencing, because they don’t have the socialization alongside it — so we’re continuing to overcome that experience.”

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Other school districts where passing rates sank in Algebra I and English II include Alamo Heights, Boerne, Comal, East Central, Edgewood, Harlandale, Lackland, Medina Valley, South San Antonio, Southside and Southwest ISDs.

Somerset ISD improved five percentage points in English II but lost ground in Algebra I. Fort Sam Houston ISD saw a slight gain in English II and Randolph Field saw a slight loss. Still, both maintained the same passing rate in Algebra I — 95% and 90%, respectively.

Lackland ISD saw the largest drop in any subject area, plummeting 12 percentage points in English II to a passing rate of 86%. Edgewood ISD followed closely behind, with a 64% passing rate in Algebra I compared to 74% last year.

Edgewood was one of several local school districts that underperformed in four of five core subject areas, only improving in Biology. This spring, 48% of high school students who took the English II exam passed, compared to 55% last year.

Most area school districts improved in Biology, while only one, Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD, increased its passing rate in U.S. History. But the district still lagged in English II and Algebra I performance, with 79% of students passing both tests compared to 86% and 83%, respectively.

More zeros

Last year, Texas school districts were surprised by a sharp increase in students receiving zeros on their standardized essay test questions. The state attributed the spike to a more difficult essay portion, but administrators said it raised questions about the agency’s new use of an automated computer model to grade open-ended responses.

Many school districts said they would adjust classroom learning to better prepare students for success under the new scoring system.

In San Antonio, those attempts were largely unsuccessful.

At 12 area school districts, 30% or more of students who wrote a persuasive composition for the English II exam received a zero. The percentage of zero scores increased at all but three school districts.

But results were bleak even at the school districts where fewer students received the lowest possible score — 53% of South San’s open-ended responses still got a zero, 47% of Judson’s and 45% of East Central’s.

More than 60% of Edgewood students who completed the English II essay failed with a zero, while only 1% received a ten, the highest possible score. Lackland ISD, a military school district that regularly outperforms much of the city on the STAAR, saw a 15-point increase in zero-rated essays, from 5% in 2024 to 20% this year.

Of the 5,021 essay writers at North East ISD, the largest percentage of students — 31% — received a zero. Only 7% received a ten, compared to 13% last spring.

Shaeffer said the district was initially surprised by the high percentage of zeroes last year, but ultimately agreed with the scores after reviewing the open-ended responses. The latest results highlight the need to improve teachers' understanding of the more rigorous essay standards and develop a common approach to incorporating them into classroom lessons, she said.

“It’s about transitioning the leadership of that learning to students and equipping them with what they need to know to be successful,” Shaeffer said.

After a few days of hot and humid weather, San Antonio is expected to get a brief break as thunderstorms and heavy rain move into the area. According to a report from the National Weather Service (NWS) on Tuesday, June 10, parts of South Central Texas could see up to three inches of rain this week, but with it—there's also a risk for these storms to cause some damage.

San Antonio-area folks are most likely to see those grey clouds a roll in sometime between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. today, according to the NWS. During this period, there will be a 30% chance of showers in the Alamo City and surrounding towns such as Boerne, Austin, Pleasanton and Kerrville. The national weather authority warns severe storms could bring large hail, damaging winds and isolated tornadoes, so residents should stay alert.

In most parts of South Central Texas, theres's a 5 to 14% chance for wind gusts of up to 70 miles per hour and large hail that could reach up to 2 inches in size, the NWS reports. The sun come is expected to come out again later this afternoon, leaving us with a high of 94°F. However, we won't be out of the woods just yet. Forecasters say thunderstorms chances increase tonight, mainly beginning after 1 a.m. on Wednesday, June 11. Around that time, precipitation chances rise to 60%.

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Since precipitation chances (40-60%) continue into Friday, data from the NWS says there is a possibility for up to 3 inches of rain to cover the region this week. The best chance for heavy rainfall, however, remains to be the middle of the week for most San Antonio-area towns. Folks living in the Edwards Plateau and Hill Country should also stay alert today, as the NWS warns a collection of storms could reach them early this morning.

To prepare, the NWS advises that residents be ready to shelter indoors if storms approach, rethink their outdoor plans, and have multiple ways to receive warnings throughout the week. To stay up to date on the latest weather threats, check out the NWS Austin/San Antonio page on X or head to its website here.

Good morning, San Antonio. Here's what you need to know today.

We return to a more active weather pattern today that will last through the end of the week. We’re looking at rounds of heavier rain and possibly a few stronger storms. The biggest thing to watch out for will be flash flooding. On the upside, the rain should help cool things down, bringing temperatures back to normal or even a little below for this time of year.

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Protestors will demonstrate in San Antonio and nationwide on Saturday in what organizers expect will be the largest single-day rally against President Trump since the start of his second term.

Why it matters: Texas state troopers are monitoring planned events and "stand ready."

The big picture: The widespread movement will run counter to Trump's multimillion-dollar military parade in Washington, D.C.

Zoom in: In San Antonio, demonstrations are scheduled from 5–8pm at Travis Park.

What they're saying: "Peaceful protesting is legal," Gov. Greg Abbott wrote on X. "But once you cross the line, you will be arrested."

Zoom out: More than 100 pro-democracy groups are partnering to organize the No Kings events.