A couple of area schools have earned statewide honors for excellence.

Iola and Mumford's elementary schools are Texas's No Child Left Behind Blue Ribbon Nominated Schools for High Performance.

In all, 26 Texas schools earned blue ribbon nominations for 2009.

According to the Texas Education Agency's press release, there are two requirements to be eligible for the blue ribbon:

- "At least 40 percent of a school’s student body must come from disadvantaged backgrounds and students must show dramatic improvement in performance on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) over the past three years in reading or English language arts and mathematics," or:

- "The schools’ students must be ranked in the top 10 percent on tests in reading or English language arts and mathematics"

The national Department of Education decides whether Iola, Mumford and other nominees will receive the national honor, but in 2008's awards, all 26 nominated from Texas did end up winning, according to TEA.