Austin ISD is trying to slash up to $10 million in spending by restructuring its central administrative office. Staff will learn the future of their positions Wednesday. “The process will include eliminating positions, reassignments, new reporting structures and pay scales,” district officials told KUT News in an email. The changes at the central office, which […]
Becky Fogel, KUT
Posted inAISD
Texas attorney general investigates Austin ISD for allegedly teaching ‘critical race theory’
Attorney General Ken Paxton on Monday accused Austin ISD of using materials to teach critical race theory. His office plans to depose the superintendent and school board as part of an investigation. The AG’s office alleges the district is using curricula related to the “The 1619 Project,” which recenters U.S. history around the impact of […]
Posted inEducation
Austin ISD gets a C under Texas’ updated school rating system
Austin ISD earned a C for the 2022-23 school year under the state’s academic accountability system. The C marks a slide from the previous year when the district earned a B before the Texas Education Agency started using more rigorous criteria to calculate school ratings. Superintendent Matias Segura said Austin ISD and other school districts […]
Posted inPublic Health
UT Austin professors fear Trump administration’s funding cuts will derail life-saving research
Andrea Gore, a professor of pharmacology and toxicology at UT Austin, knew from a young age that she wanted to be a scientist. She said she always loved watching birds and bugs. “Even as a kid, I would watch the nature programs instead of the sitcoms my friends were watching,” she said. John Wallingford was […]
Posted inPublic Health
716,000 meals canceled for Austin-area food bank as federal funding is cut
The Central Texas Food Bank is feeling the effects of the Trump administration’s funding cuts after the U.S. Department of Agriculture slashed more than a billion dollars in funding for programs that support food banks and help schools buy goods from local farmers. Within two weeks following the decision, 39 loads of food were canceled, said Beth Corbett, […]
Posted inEducation
Austin ISD gets $41 million from the Education Department. What happens if the agency closes?
When Christy Fox thinks about why federal funding is important to Austin ISD, she thinks about who those dollars support: staff typically working with the district’s most vulnerable students. “I think about the human behind it,” she said, “because these are real people that have real relationships to help children be successful.” Fox is the […]
Posted inEducation
Austin public education advocates blast Trump’s order aiming to close Education Department
President Trump signed an executive order Thursday to phase out the U.S. Department of Education – an agency that provides loans and grants to college students, distributes federal funding to schools and is tasked with protecting students’ civil rights. The move follows significant layoffs at the department, including staff at a regional office in Dallas. In […]
Posted inTexas State Legislature
Texas won’t offer a program to help feed kids over the summer. Advocates push for change next year.
About three dozen states plan to participate in a federal program that helps families pay for groceries over the summer. For the second year in a row, Texas – which has the second-highest rate of food insecurity in the U.S. – won’t be among them. The Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer program, also known as Summer […]
Posted inEducation
New Texas teacher pay bill proposes increasing certain salaries by as much as $10,000
The chair of the Texas Senate Education Committee has outlined his vision for boosting teacher salaries, with a focus on retaining experienced educators. Sen. Brandon Creighton (R-Conroe) filed Senate Bill 26 on Tuesday, a couple of weeks after Gov. Greg Abbott named raising teacher pay as one of seven emergency items for the 89th Legislature. Creighton’s […]
Posted inBudget
Austin ISD announces hiring freeze as budget deficit grows to $110 million
Lee esta historia en español Austin ISD will institute a districtwide hiring freeze on March 1 as the school district tries to claw its way out of a financial hole that has grown deeper since the 2024-25 budget was approved in June. Though district officials initially anticipated a $78 million budget deficit, that figure climbed to $92 […]
Posted inAISD
Austin ISD says it is prepared for potential impact of Trump’s immigration policies
Officials for the largest school district in Central Texas said they have taken steps to prepare for the potential impact of President Donald Trump’s immigration policies. Austin ISD General Counsel Kenneth M. Walker II said the district began reviewing its protocols before Trump began signing executive orders. “We could … anticipate that some of the […]
Posted inEducation
Eanes ISD school board votes to combine two elementary schools to save money
The Eanes ISD school board voted unanimously on Tuesday to close Valley View Elementary as part of an effort to reduce an estimated $6.5 million budget deficit. District officials said closing the campus, which is currently at 50 percent of its operational capacity, will save $2 million. Starting next school year, Valley View students will attend Barton […]