Basketball will be the ticket that gets a group of Garcia Middle School eighth graders to Washington D.C.

It's not every year that middle school students get the chance to tour the nation's capital with the Smithsonian Student Education Travel group, but it is an opportunity being afforded to the Garcia Dragons this spring. And to help fund the trip, the students are hosting a community basketball game to drum up support for this unique educational experience. 

Based on consultation with Education Austin, and support from its employee groups, the Joint Insurance Committee and legal counsel, the Austin Independent School District has proposed a plan to extend the district’s insurance coverage to domestic partnerships.

If implemented, the district would extend coverage to qualifying individuals in domestic partnerships beginning Sept. 1.   

AISD began discussing expanding its insurance coverage in September 2012 as part of its preliminary budget process.

Texas schools will not find out their 2013 state ratings until August, but already a major legislative bill under consideration and the anticipated release of new rules that dictate how the state will calculate and evaluate the test results could have a major impact on the accountability system for Texas schools.  

The Austin Independent School District invites the community to submit award nominations for citizens and organizations supportive of Latino students or services that enhance the academic achievement of Latino students. Three Latino Community Awards will be presented in conjunction with the District’s Latino Academic Achievement Awards event honoring outstanding students.

The Community Awards are:

This time last year, the roster for the Reagan Raiders girls’ soccer team was so sparse that there were only enough players to form a varsity team. Now, the team has enough players to form both varsity and junior varsity squads, and their success on the field is making history.

The Reagan Raiders girls’ soccer team made the playoffs this year for the first time in 20 years, and came in third in AISD.