Austin ISD approves plan to close 10 schools

The Austin Independent School District has passed a plan that's going to close 10 of its campuses across the city. The plan was altered multiple times and originally called for 13 school closures, as the local school district works to reduce a multi-million dollar budget deficit and empty seats at many of its campus. We're going to talk more about the plan, the vote, and what happens next for Austin ISD.

Plus, state officials released a stash of communications between Governor Greg Abbott and Elon Musk. But the nearly 1,400 files were heavily redacted. We're gonna hear about how public information is becoming a little less public. The Austin Signal is a production of KUT News, hosted by Jerry Quijano. And what's it like to spend 24 hours in Austin's airport? We'll have a taste of that coming up next right here on Austin Signal. Howdy out there, this is Austin Signal. I'm your host, Jerry

Kehannel. It is Monday, November 24th. Thank you for spending part of your day here with us. A very happy Thanksgiving week to everyone out there if you're planning to be away from home sometime this week. We certainly hope your travel plans go smoothly and of course that you enjoy the holiday season. Let's get into today's show.

After weeks of public comments and community rallies, as well as multiple versions of a strategy put forward, the Austin Independent School District has officially okayed the consolidation plan for the 2026-2027 school year. It was a contentious rollout for the plan that will not close as many schools as originally proposed, but still slates 10 campuses for permanent closure. For more about the plan and the vote, we are joined by KUT's Travis County reporter, Katy McAfee.

Howdy, Katy. Hey, Jerry. Thank you for being with us here on Austin Signal. So the Austin ISD School Board voted last week in a meeting on Thursday. You were at that meeting. What was it like? Yeah, the meeting was intense. It actually ended Friday morning around 2 a.m. Oh wow. There were, yeah. What time did it start?

Start it at six. Okay, oh my goodness. It went straight through from 6 to 2. Straight through from 6 to like 2 30 almost And that was because I'm guessing tons of people wanted to get one last opinion in before the vote. That's right, there were about 150 parents and community members who signed up for public comment and it lasted almost three hours.

Well, you can read some of the reporting that Katy covered in that meeting over at KUT.org, but we're going to talk a little bit about it right here. One thing that we've been hearing a lot throughout this process, Katy, has been the plan. The plan is changing. The plan this, the plan is that. But the plan to address a budget deficit that Austin ISD has been working against for a while now. How is, just remind us, what is that budget deficit?

And how is the district saying that the plan that they voted on last week is going to help address that deficit? Yeah, so the budget deficit they're dealing with right now is about $19.7 million. And this plan they estimate will generate about $21.5 million. And the main way they're going to get that money is through reducing staff positions.

So at these closing schools, what they're doing is they're reaching out to teachers who are already in the district and saying, hey, where would you like to work next year? And they're gonna try to reassign those teachers to schools that are still open. But they will still be able to reduce staff positions because the district hires thousands of new teachers every year.

And they're gonna put a hiring freeze for external candidates in January while they try to reassign those teachers that are already there. And then they're going to make money by not having to pay utilities at those schools, not having offer food service, not having offered transportation services to those schools. Things like that. And that hiring of 1,000 workers is that just like a normal thing as part of a turnover at schools? That's what the superintendent says, yeah.

Okay, let's talk a little bit about that meeting. You were there Thursday, lots of community input, lots of phone calls as well. What was the general consensus of the comments that you were hearing ahead of the vote? Yeah, great question. So, you know, throughout these nearly three hours of public comment, almost every single person who was there was asking the board to reject this plan.

Okay. There were a lot of parents, as there has been for a lot of these community meetings from Becker Elementary and from Ridgetop Elementary, these are schools that offer dual language programs, which are being closed and moved to schools near where more emergent bilingual students live. A lot of parent expressed that they are going to the- they're sending their kids to AISD so they can be part of this dual language program.

And if they go through with this plan, they're going to consider sending their kid to a different school outside the district or going to private school. And then there were also some teachers and a one third grader from Ridgetop Elementary who was at the meeting as well. This third graded got a standing ovation.

And he kind of bravely stood up on a chair and spoke into the mic and said I'm learning a lot about my feelings at school and how to listen to my feelings and this plan makes me feel sad. I'm going to have to make new friends and I've built relationships with my teachers. I really like the lunch lady at my school and I think you should listen to your feelings too and not pass this plan. And then finally, a lot of teachers kind of shared similar sentiments.

They've built really close relationships with their students at school and they're just sad to see that go away. And one teacher said, If you are going to go through with this plan, at least follow up with some accountability. We as teachers and as the community members in the district want to see how this plan is going to make money. And we wanna see you rebuild trust with the community because they feel like that's been lost.

Yeah, that certainly has been echoed by lots of folks that they feel like they've lost trust with the district through the rollout of the plan. But the plan now has been voted on. So how is AISD going to go about implementing it? You mentioned I think about, you know, teachers maybe having a survey as to like which schools might work best for them, as well as the kids from these schools that closing. Yeah, great question.

So yes, all teachers are getting or have already gotten a survey asking where they would like to work next year. The district is going to spend pretty much the remainder of the school year reassigning those teachers and staff to new schools. And then as far as families go and to where students are going to be going next school year at these closing schools, Austin ICD has a plan for basically every

school. So for example, Students at Dawson Elementary, that's in my neighborhood, those students are gonna be reassigned to Galindo. But then some students have more options and it might be a little confusing for them. Students at Becker Elementary, for example, can re-enroll in the dual language program somewhere else that might not be near where they live or they can go to Galinda or they go to Zilker.

So parents are probably spending the next few months too trying to figure out what's best for them and it's been a long rollout process. We only have about 25 seconds left. Is there a chance that more schools might be closed after this plan now has been voted on? Yeah, that's right. The superintendent, Matias Segura, has been really clear that this process isn't over.

Some schools that could be voted on next year, those three that were taken off the list, that's Maplewood, Breaker Woods, and Palm. And he said a plan could come again before voters next year. But a lot of those details are still up in the air. Alrighty, well you can read about some of those details over at KUT.org. That is Katy McAfee. She is KUT's Travis County reporter. Katy, thank you for your information. Thank you so much, Jerry.

Elon Musk and Texas Governor Greg Abbott have built a close working relationship over the years, but details about their partnership, found in more than 1,000 pages of emails, are hidden to the public. The Texas newsroom's investigative reporter Lauren McGaughy should know. She tried to get copies of the communications between Musk and Abbott's office. Simple ask touched off a month's long quest.

When Governor Abbott spoke at an energy summit in Austin last month, he gave the businessman there his pitch for Texas. But by leading America in economic development, our motto is that Texas moves at the speed of business. There was one event that captured that more than anything else. That pivotal moment, Elon Musk's decision to build a giant Tesla factory near the state capital. It was 2020 and Musk had hit regulatory hurdles in blue states that he didn't much care for.

The governor told Musk he wouldn't need to worry about that in Texas. He was actually able to get it completed and have vehicles rolling off of it in less than 18 months. Since the Tesla Gigafactory was built, Musk's footprint has spread across the state, all while he's maintained a close partnership with Governor Abbott. The Texas newsroom wanted more insight into this relationship.

So back in April, we filed a records request asking the governor's office for its emails with Elon Musk and people from his companies, including SpaceX and Tesla. First, Abbott's office wanted to charge to review the records. The Texas Newsroom cut a check for $244. But after it cleared, Abbott's office fought against releasing any emails at all, saying they included private exchanges with lawyers and details about policymaking decisions.

In a letter, which a colleague of mine will read from, the governor's lawyer asked the state attorney general to step in and let them keep Musk's emails secret. The release of these deliberations would have a chilling effect on the frank and open discussion necessary for the decision-making process. An attorney with SpaceX also argued against making the emails public. He said doing that would reveal trade secrets. All of this was happening while Texas lawmakers were meeting in Austin.

At the same time the Texas newsroom was fighting for these emails, Musk's lobbyists were in the capital, drumming up support for a dozen new state laws to benefit his companies. And Musk had a good year. Most of the bills he wanted passed, including a major one giving SpaceX greater control over the beach near its launch site in South Texas. Starbase, the newest Texas city along the coast, and the SpaceX team got some wins in this last session of the Texas legislature.

But that insight we were hoping to gain about Musk's influence in the Capitol? Ultimately, we weren't able to find it in the public records. That's because when the Attorney General made his decision about Abbott and Musk's emails, he let the governor withhold many of these communications. And the records Abbott's office was ordered to release to us were mostly redacted. As in completely blacked out so that not one word was readable.

According to a note on the records, many were kept secret because they included information related to competitive advantage. Experts say this case is representative of how hard it's become to get public records in Texas. Corporations can object to the release of proprietary information. And Reid Pillifant says governments are siding with them more and more.

The fact that a governmental body can withhold more than a thousand pages or redact more than 1,000 pages of documents that are directly related to a major business's activities in Texas is certainly problematic. Pillifant is an Austin-based attorney specializing in public records and media law. He says there is a clear public interest in whether government documents like this are released.

Every Texas citizen should care about access to these kinds of records because they shed light on how our public officials are making big decisions that affect the land where people live and how their taxpayer dollars are being spent. Pilafont has represented some of the Texas newsroom's partners in lawsuits seeking the release of public information. We reached out to Musk, his lawyers, and his various companies for comment. They didn't respond.

In an emailed statement, Abbott spokesman said the governor rigorously complies with state open records laws and make sure to release anything that's not confidential. The Texas news room has published more information about the saga in our latest collaboration with ProPublica and the Texas Tribune. You can find it online now. I'm Lauren McGaughy in Austin, Texas. Thank you for tuning in. This is Austin Signal here on listener powered public radio KUT news 90.5.

We are on the KUT app and online at KUT.org. Well, as I said at the top, it's a busy travel season for lots of Texans. We're going to head on out to the airport and spend a little time there. Stay with us. We'll be back in a moment. This is Austin Signal, welcome back, thank you for being here with us. This week is one of the busiest weeks at the Austin Airport, no doubt about it, but have you ever stopped and just looked around and noticed all the stories and emotions happening at an airport?

It's a lot to take in if you take a moment. Well, KUT's project manager, Matt Largie, and a group of reporters from the KUT newsroom decided to take a snapshot of sorts for the podcast 24 Hours in Austin. And here we join them on a day in May last year. Right around lunchtime. 1113, a woman named Cynthia and her husband Alejandro are waiting at the bottom of the escalators. They're looking up at the line of people coming down to baggage claim. They're waiting for her cousin,

Olivia. She's on leave from the military, coming home from Korea. She left right after Christmas, so a few months. She's been gone. Are you looking forward to seeing her? Yes, I want to cry right now, so I'm excited to see her. No, it's fine. It looks like he wants to cry now after this we're gonna go surprise her mom at work like my older cousins don't know that she's here yet so I'm picking her up to surprise everybody Her mom doesn't know either?

We told her that she was in like some secret training that she had to do. So nobody knows that she's here yet, except for me and my husband. Thank you. How do you think they're going to react? Just as bad as I am right now, but my older cousin Lydia her boss is in on it So they're actually having like a potluck and stuff like that for her So it's gonna be really exciting. I think her dad's gonna Be the worst though like way worse than I am.

Right now. He'll break down and cry like a huge baby Cynthia's husband, Alejandro, was in the Marines. He's been out for eight years, but he still struggles with it. These events, you know, with her coming home, still brings up a lot of emotions for me. My brother, who's four years older than me, passed away in Iraq in 2006.

And so, like I said, these emotions, that's kind of a mixture for me, because of everything, but at the same time, I'm not going to put a damper on her coming home, because, of course, it's her moment. So try to be as uplifting and happy as possible. That's really complicated though. Yes it is. I've been watching this staircase and off and on to this one. Alejandro wanders off closer to the escalator to get a better look. He seems tense. Do you think this is hard for your husband?

A little bit, yeah, but knowing that it's something good, it kind of outweighs the bad. I kind of have to talk to him about certain things just to make sure it doesn't mess with his PTSD. So last night I was like, are you sure you're okay? You don't have to come with me? So he's like, no, no. I want to be there for you and for her. And I think he's okay for right now because he knows it's something good. It's not anything bad. But then Alejandro calls to Cynthia.

What Olivia is coming down the escalator. Every time we go in, it's like... Cynthia drops her bag and runs over to her cousin. She's in tears. Alejandro waits his turn to greet Olivia. So this is my cousin Olivia. Yes. I'm ready to get home. I know you've had a long trip. I want some Mexican food, don't you? What did you mention there? Yeah, yeah, like she really wants some Mexican food. Yes. Did you tell him I was been in

Korea? Yeah I will let you guys get on with your reunion, I'll get out of your way, but thank you, thank you for your service. All the way up. Around 12.15, I'm outside watching the jumble of cars pull up to the curb to drop people off. Security people with whistles are doing their best to manage the chaos. It's funny because the grackles seem like they're responding to the whistles singing along with them. Pull up all the way, pull up and around. Fascinated by these guys directing traffic.

People are just so bad at pulling up to the curb and not blocking other people at the airport. Just like, needs constant tending. 12:25, waiting for grandma to come in. Who's this baby? This is Stella. Hi Stella. She's a girl. Is that your little sister? Mm-hmm. Do you want to talk? What do you got there? Is that Barbie? Yeah. You're waiting for Grandma? Mm-hm. Yeah? What are you going to do when she gets here? I don't know. She got a surprise for me. She has a surprise? What do you hope it is?

I don't know. We don't know. Is it another Barbie doll? I like your boots, though. Thank you. Your whole outfit is very nice. Thank you. Do you like dinosaurs? Uh, no. They're very scary. They don't look very scary on your dress! Yeah, but these ones are pretty, but real ones look scary. What's your favorite animal? Um, I don't know. You don't know? Please pay attention to the area in front of the terminal building.

At 2.38 p.m., producer Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez meets a guy coming back to Austin from visiting family in Brazil. It's complicated. For me, I don't feel like here is home and I don´t feel there is home as well. So when I'm here, sometimes I'm missing there. When I'm there, I'm missin' here. And I think the most complicated for me was I got divorced last year. So now I don't have family. When I moved here, I moved with the idea to have a family, have kids.

And at the end I didn't, and I got divorce. And what do your parents say? What did they say when they knew that you were moving to the US? My mother still thinks I will move back. Does she ask, like, well, when are you coming back or? Not anymore in the beginning she was she was okay well you move it only because you're ex-wife now you're your god You moved here because of her? That's what my mother thinks about me. Oh, wow. 325 p.m. The information desk. I'm sorry, can I help you?

I'm just trying to figure out which claim my bag is at. Southwest, they use baggage claim four, and when it gets crowded, they used five. Okay, thank you. You're welcome, I'm a volunteer. Oh, okay. I'm what they call an ambassador, and most of us are seniors. Why volunteer at the airport? Oh, because it's lots of fun. I get to talk to people from all over the world sometimes. You know, I enjoy it. It gives me people to talk. I'm a widow. I live alone. Sir, did you need some help?

Did you need help? Yes. May I help you? Where can I find door L so I can release my cargo? Okay, what airline is your cargo on? Okay, you need to go to their baggage officer. It's all the way down there where baggage claim seven is yes Appreciate it. Okay. Door L. I mean, what the heck is door L? We don't have a door L! A few minutes later, the same guy comes back to the information desk. I better help this gentleman right here. Can I help you, sir?

I just need to clear it's customs so I can pick it up from a different location. So you're picking something up from customs. They told me either door L, door 25, go to door L straight ahead or volunteer desk to the right Okay, well the letter L is all the way down at the end and then go out to the curve. So it's outside or is it where 7 is located? I have Asperger's, sorry, so... Okay, I'm old. I'm elderly and I'm getting confused. I don't know what to say. What are you trying to find?

Are you trying to find a bag that has been shipped? It's a live animal, so it was shipped, a dog. It's a dog. Oh, thank goodness. From abroad and I'm here to just clear the customs so I can pick it up from Terminal T. The customs agents are all behind the locked door working with international arrivals. I can do that. You can try, when those doors open, you can try talking to a customs person. Yeah, I get tackled and shot maybe or something. I don't want to go into a locked door.

They don't carry guns, and it's illegal to have a gun in the airport. I don't look so... OK, I appreciate it, thanks. Okay, good luck soon. That's the podcast, 24 Hours in Austin, and don't worry, reporter Greta Díaz González Vázquez followed that man to find the dog at the airport. You can find out what happens by listening to the podcast episode by going to kutkutx.studio. That's our show for today. I'm your host, Jerry Quijano. We will talk to you tomorrow. Have a great day out there.