AISD librarians cuts draw backlash Austin ISD’s proposed changes to librarian roles that would move them into support roles to save money prompted backlash among librarians, parents and students

Austin ISD's preliminary proposal for addressing its budget shortfall suggests moving dedicated librarians into other support roles to save $2 million.
austincurrent.org/2026/04/09/a...

White families make up bulk of Texas voucher applicants Of the almost 275,000 students who applied for vouchers, 45% are white and 75% attended a private school or home-school in 2024-25, final numbers show.

...and about 75% of voucher applicants attended a private school or home-school during the 2024-25 academic year.
www.texastribune.org/2026/04/01/t...

Texas Public Schools Explorer | The Texas Tribune What the data says about your Texas public school. Explore data on 1,202 districts and 9,113 public schools.

New Schools Explorer is up and running, and it literally adds a whole new dimension to the old version: time. Not to mention money (funding & spending). My hope is that this will help us all have better, more data-informed discussions about our public schools. Go explore! schools.texastribune.org

AISD land sales face city restrictions Austin ISD could sell campuses to cut a growing deficit, but a city proposal could reshape deals and put parkland at stake.

"For Austin ISD, those campuses represent potential revenue as the district works to close a growing budget gap. For the city, they represent land and money it could lose if it signs away its interest without pushing for a fair price." austincurrent.org/2026/03/26/a...

Wichita Falls school district avoids state takeover, officials say The threat of a Texas Education Agency takeover was triggered by one of the North Texas district’s schools that had been underperforming for years.

The school triggering the would-be takeover moved its students to a school operated by a charter school network founded by Mike Miles—the state appointed superintendent of Houston ISD.
www.texastribune.org/2026/03/05/t...

Indianapolis, IN—here for a conference but found a place to stay a couple miles' walk from the conference hotel, half the price, and astoundingly Victorian in all directions as far as I can see

UNT blames shortfall on loss of international students, cuts Travel restrictions and sharper federal attention are dissuading foreign students from attending U.S. colleges, advocates say, hitting the Denton university harder than most.

"International students typically pay significantly higher tuition than Texas residents, making their decline especially costly for public universities..."
www.texastribune.org/2026/02/20/u...

Austin ISD pushes for property sales amidst budget deficit Austin ISD is selling the former campuses Brooke and Rosedale elementary schools to buoy finances as it faces a nearly $20M deficit.

austincurrent.org/2026/02/19/a...

Austin-area students unite against ICE in school walkouts Students in school districts across Central Texas rallied together to protest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement despite pushback from the Texas governor.

Student voice: "We are so young, we think that our voice is not going to really make a change. But, seeing how all of us were gathered there that day made me feel really hopeful after a period of being really scared for my family and my friends.” austincurrent.org/2026/02/16/a...

Austin ISD seeks to exit $72 million in bond contracts Austin ISD spent $24 million in bond renovations on closing schools and has another $72 million in contracts that the district hopes to exit.

Our Austin newsroom follows up on the school district's efforts to recoup (or try to justify) funds committed to expanding/modernizing schools now slated for closure. austincurrent.org/2026/02/05/a...

One reason Minneapolis remains in the world's eye is we have one of the most robust & independent media ecosystems remaining in the country. You all need this...and more! @mprnews.org @startribune.com @sahanjournal.bsky.social @minnesotareformer.com @minnpost.bsky.social @racketmn.com etc.

...3/3 from Chapter 2 of @christopherbrown.bsky.social 's "A Natural History of Empty Lots," which sets the scene along the Colorado I think near where I scouted a half-abandoned trail between Bolm District Park and the Montopolis Bridge. Saw two 'dillos, countless birds, and no humans.

"An accidental refuge, paradoxically
protected by industrial land uses that were oblivious to their ecological imprint but kept most of the human activities out of the riparian corridor hidden behind them."

“...a stretch of river that seemed so wild that we immediately felt transported to a different time...the river clear and bright as it flowed over mussel shoals and cut deep channels around unexplored islands.”

My daily news diary for January, including: An IU Trident A price tag An empty vaccine syringe Three X logos A bag of money A peace protest sign A shattered ice cube Rama Duwaji's pointy black boot A Venezuelan flag A memorial candle for Renee Good An outline of Greenland A taco The Federal Reserve building A Golden Globe An oil tanker A steak A champagne bottle An Iranian flag A graduation cap A trans pride heart A cell phone with text thread Macron's sunglasses A thermometer and tear gas Liam Ramos's fuzzy hat Alex Pretti's hat and sunglasses Bovino's coat A Ring doorbell A snow shovel An airplane A wind turbine A stack of file boxes A protester holding an ICE OUT sign

To process the chaos, I'm spending a few minutes each night stitching a news diary--embroidering tiny icons representing an important story of the day.

One month in, and it feels like I've already sewn a year's worth of news. But it helps me make sense of it all, so I think I can manage 11 more.

1.5 years and 16 cross-city walks in to being an Austinite, I feel more strongly than ever that the best way to get to know a city is to travel across it as inefficiently as possible-- on foot. I just put four more walks on the calender for the spring. If you're in town, hope you can join one!

TEA moves to fix 4,200 errors in Bible-infused curriculum State Board of Education members criticized the publishing errors and postponed their vote on the agency’s request until their next meeting.

Texas Education Agency moves to correct 4,200 errors in Bible-infused curriculum www.texastribune.org/2026/01/30/t...

NGL this description of Bsky in Vulture cracked me up

Screenshot of the OVA website, showing all courses

The Open Visualization Academy (OVA) IS LIVE!
openvisualizationacademy.org

Thread follows #dataViz #infographics #dataJournalism #dataVisualization

Voting resources: How to vote in Texas - The Texas Tribune How to vote in Texas.

The Texas Tribune is dedicated to helping Texans vote.

Ahead of the 2026 election, we’ve collected our voting resources on this page for you to easily find and share them with others:

The common traits in Texas schools that trigger takeovers The demographic makeup of the “trigger” schools raises questions about whether Texas' accountability system fairly considers historic inequities tied to race and poverty.

Highest poverty schools were 30x+ as likely to receive a D or F from the state as lowest poverty schools. Compared to majority-white schools: majority-Black schools 4x+ as likely, Hispanic schools 2x+
www.texastribune.org/2026/01/27/t...

...and winding up at an MLK festival at HBCU Huston-Tillotson, where I waited 30 minutes for delicious fried catfish and met a retired soul singer who Google Search AI Overview confidently misassured me had died two years ago.

neighborhoods in flux between gentrification and displacement...

thru three historic black cemeteries
these days clearly labeled with a little history lesson they forgot in school...

I'm thankful for the holiday and a beautiful day for a walk thru Austin's Black history, from early councilman Henry Madison's restored cabin...

While the e-assist did all the heavy lifting, the balance and steering was alllll me 🤗

Austin ISD spent $100 million on schools it will soon close The bond was pitched as a way to shore up struggling schools as Austin ISD faced mounting financial pressures and declining enrollment.

Our local Austin newsroom officially launched today. Here's their first education story. austincurrent.org/2026/01/12/a...

Top stories from the Texas Tribune’s data visuals team The Tribune’s team of data journalists produced a congressional redistricting tool, covered several education data releases, visualized the measles outbreak and more.

Our data viz editor Chris put together a greatest hits compilation of work by Alex, Carla, Dan, Yuriko, Edison, and me in 2025. Chris's name doesn't show up in the bylines of most of these works, but he played a key role in all of them. www.texastribune.org/2025/12/29/t...

decades of Christmas: 1950s record/1960s custom built media cabinet and centralized audio distribution system/1990s wave radio/2010s turntable

recently found a copy of Billy Budd at the NB Whaling Museum, hope to re-read after many decades