Austin ISD

Per student funding in Texas has been stagnant since 2019, and another legislative session ended this week without any increase to the basic allotment.

Garcia broke barriers throughout his career. In 1972, he became the first Latino elected to the Austin Independent School District Board of Trustees. He was then elected three times to Austin City Council from 1991 to 1997.

Austin ISD estimates it would lose $6.2 million in state funding if 1,000 students left the district to use a school voucher.

The compensation plan approved Thursday also includes a $4-per-hour raise for hourly employees, such as bus drivers and food service staff.

District officials, parents and educators in the Austin area are ramping up demands for more state funding with less than a month left in the 88th Texas legislative session. The increases that lawmakers have proposed do not come close to keeping up with inflation.

AISD officials have proposed raising the minimum hourly wage for certified employees to $20 and giving a 7% pay increase to teachers, counselors and librarians. The plan could result in a $54 million budget deficit.

A federal waiver that allowed schools to provide free meals to all students regardless of family income expired after Republicans in Congress blocked efforts to renew it.

The Texas Education Agency announced last month it wanted to install conservators to oversee special education services in the district. The proposal came after an investigation that found AISD repeatedly failed to meet the needs of students with disabilities.

The Texas Legislature passed a bill two years ago requiring the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness be administered online by the 2022-2023 school year. But school districts and some lawmakers are concerned the change is going to negatively affect students and test scores.

Austin ISD has struggled to address a backlog of special education evaluations, leaving many students without critical services. And, just as the district began rolling out a plan to make things better, the Texas Education Agency announced plans for state oversight.