Today is the first day of school for Austin ISD, and that means nearly 90,000 students filling hallways. Meria Carstarphen, AISD’s superintendent, sees the biggest challenges in a successful year as student safety, school funding, and STAAR testing.
Before students can return to class, they must first meet the required immunization standards. To accommodate this requirement, AISD offered free vaccinations this past weekend at their Back to School Bash.
The STAAR exam will be in its third year, and AISD will be looking to raise its scores in preparation for the tougher 2016 requirements.
Carstarphen praised the efforts of local teachers in their ability to teach without over-relying on practice testing.
“Our staff has been extraordinary in making that transition away from that culture,” Carstarphen said.
In 2011, Austin school district had $60 million cut from its budget by the Texas Legislature. This year it received nearly $11 million back into its budget.
Carstarphen said that while she doesn’t see the school board requesting a tax ratification election in the near future, it’s only a matter of time before they request an increase in funding from property taxes.
“We know that we don’t have enough resources to serve our students and certainly the evolving demographics in our population that do demand resources to be successful,” Carstarphen said. “There are a lot of things that Austin wants, and they’re, by and large, pretty cost prohibitive.”
