Furthering its efforts to shore up the local child care industry, City Council passed three resolutions last week changing the criteria for the city’s Childcare Support Fund. In addition, Council directed City Manager Spencer Cronk to develop recommendations and take action to address child care challenges caused by Covid-19 and urged Gov. Greg Abbott to use […]
Education
Posted inEducation
‘This is an issue of health’: Teachers union demands Austin ISD offer only online classes in August
The union for Austin Independent School District employees is asking the district and the state not to send employees back to school buildings in August. Union members say it is unsafe for employees and children to be in classes together. During an online news conference Wednesday, Education Austin President Ken Zarifis said the union is […]
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Schools in Travis County are not just segregated. They’re the most segregated in the state.
Valerie Sterne has always known anecdotally that schools in Austin are segregated. She used to be a teacher and an administrator with the Austin Independent School District, and saw firsthand that students of color and low-income students were all attending the same schools. When she left to get her PhD in education policy, she decided […]
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Austin ISD school board approves $1.6 billion budget, after public calls to defund AISD Police
The Austin Independent School District’s Board of Trustees passed a $1.65 billion budget early Tuesday, taking $47.6 million from the district’s reserve funds to make up for a shortfall partly caused by COVID-19 expenses. The budget also includes 2% raises for staff, more money for dual-language programs and more funding for certified academic language therapists, […]
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AISD officials discuss Covid-19 response
Austin Independent School District officials spoke at an Austin Justice Coalition panel Wednesday night, discussing how the district and its students are coping during the Covid-19 pandemic and the stay-at-home order that has shuttered schools. Speakers included AISD Board of Trustees President Geronimo Rodriguez, AISD Chief Equity Officer Stephanie Hawley, Education Austin President Ken Zarifis, […]
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As Superintendent Paul Cruz prepares to leave Austin ISD, his school closure plan remains unresolved
Even though Superintendent Paul Cruz said he’s leaving the Austin Independent School District, the process of school closures that started under his watch likely will not end. But where the plan goes from here is unknown. At a press conference Thursday, Cruz said the decision on how to move forward with eight schools under consideration for closure […]
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Eight school districts issue warning to TCAD
Eight school districts that depend on the Travis Central Appraisal District to provide them with accurate property values are facing a serious loss of revenue as a result of a decision by TCAD’s chief appraiser not to reappraise residential properties this year. The school districts have notified TCAD’s board of directors that they will be […]
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Austin ISD considers opening a school for young adults with autism
A local nonprofit wants to start a school in Austin that serves young adults with neurological conditions like autism. Easterseals of Central Texas is seeking to start the school within the Austin Independent School District. The school would help students older than 18 who have autism or other conditions learn important life and workplace skills. […]
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Chief equity officer calls Austin ISD’s school closure process inequitable and ‘short-sighted’
School closures and consolidations are not “equity strategies,” the Austin Independent School District’s chief equity officer says in a report released Monday. “They are short-term and often short-sighted approaches to cost savings that are seldom reinvested in programming in the very school communities that are displaced and dispossessed,” Stephanie Hawley continues. The report was dated […]
Posted inAISD
Human Rights Commission seeks apology from AISD
Last week the Austin Independent School District’s chief equity officer, Stephanie Hawley, called the board of trustees’ vote to close four elementary schools racist and inequitable. In an effort to improve the district’s financial situation, the board was faced with a list of 12 proposed school closures. The list was whittled down to four elementary […]
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Austin ISD equity officer calls closure plan ‘racist’ before board votes to close four schools
The Austin Independent School District’s Board of Trustees voted 6-3 on Monday to close Brooke, Metz, Sims and Pease elementary schools at the end of this school year. Trustees Ann Teich, Arati Singh and LaTisha Anderson opposed the closures. Parents and community members have pushed back for months on the proposal; that continued during public […]
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Under new proposal, Austin ISD gives itself more time to consider closing eight schools
Instead of closing 12 schools over the next five years, the Austin Independent School District is now proposing to close four schools over two years. In a revised school changes plan released Friday, AISD says it will take more time considering whether to close the eight other schools on its original list. The revisions come […]