The New Madrid County R-1 Enlarged School District was created in 1968 as the merger of the Higgerson, Lilbourn, Matthews, New Madrid, Parma, and Portageville school districts. This was because a referendum held on July 9 that year succeeded. This was after the New Madrid County Board of Education, in 1966, asked the
Missouri State Department of Education to create a feasibility study for district consolidation. For much of the district's history, it maintained five separate high schools in Lilbourn, Matthews, New Madrid, Parma, and Portageville. Masterson had previously been the interim superintendent after Sam Duncan retired. ==Schools==