Austin ISD

How did AISD sell a piece of public land on a promise that never materialized? The answer involves the City of Austin, a movie theater company hamstrung by the pandemic and a school district left rethinking how it should manage valuable property.

Austin ISD found out this week that properties in Travis County were appraised much higher than it anticipated. It's now expected to pay $850 million into the state recapture system next school year — $50 million more than it had budgeted.

Austin ISD is changing the schedule to give teachers more planning time and to meet a state PE requirement.

The proposed budget would add $1,000 to teachers' base pay and give them a 2% raise overall. The district is also proposing raising the hourly wage for classified workers and bus drivers.

Conservative critics said Austin ISD was encouraging students not to tell their parents what they were learning during discussions of LGBTQ issues in class.

School districts in Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio are letting students, teachers and staff decide for themselves on whether to wear face coverings.

The superintendent said the district could reinstate the mask mandate if the COVID situation changes. She urged people to respect each other's differences as the mask mandate is lifted.

On Monday, the attorney general issued an opinion that some medical care for transgender children is child abuse. The governor backed him on it. But Central Texas' largest school district said it won't be reporting anyone.

Some schools and early voting polling sites are announcing delays Thursday morning due to wintry weather. The City of Austin plans to activate warming centers for unsheltered Austinites.

A study found AISD paid more than $710 million last school year — three-and-a-half times more Houston ISD, a much larger district. The program is meant to bolster districts in areas with less property wealth.