| Happy April! Can you believe we’re almost to the end of the year?❗ Reminder: Please be sure to badge in every time to come to an Austin ISD facility and make sure the door closes behind you. I know it’s generally polite to hold the door open for others, but it’s a safety issue when staff allows others to come into the building without badging in. 🏁 You’re invited to the 2022 MotoGP Red Bull Grand Prix this Sunday! Get two free tickets using your Austin ISD email.Let’s dive in… |
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| Staff Weekly |
| By Cristina Nguyen ● Apr 08, 2022
Smart Brevity™ count: 4.5 mins... 1151 words
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Happy April! Can you believe we’re almost to the end of the year?
❗ Reminder: Please be sure to badge in every time to come to an Austin ISD facility and make sure the door closes behind you.
🏁 You’re invited to the 2022 MotoGP Red Bull Grand Prix this Sunday!
Let’s dive in…
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1 big thing: We’re gearing up to propose the preliminary budget
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We’re proposing the preliminary budget for the 2022-23 school year, and we’re here to give some updates on what’s included.
Why it matters: District leadership will be presenting a balanced budget to the Board of Trustees this next week. That’s going to take hard cuts to close an $87 million budget deficit.
Staff investments: Proposed compensation increases account for a $20.8 million investment in the budget.
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This includes the proposed $1,000 increase for base pay and a 2% raise at the midpoint for teachers.
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Bus drivers may also get a pay bump to a minimum of $21 per hour.
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Classified staff would have a minimum base pay of $16 per hour.
Student investments: For the first time ever, we’re proposing an investment of $2 million in an equity allotment to support campuses with economically disadvantaged students.
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Campuses would also see an increase in per-pupil allocations.
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These investments would help campuses fund special projects or clubs for students whose families may not be able to pay out-of-pocket for activities.
How we got there: The proposed budget includes $51.9 million in cuts. We began with cuts through attrition and eliminating vacancies throughout the year.
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We're eliminating 375 positions from Central Office and Operations. After attrition, we have notified 145 Central Office and Operations staff that their positions have been eliminated after June 30.
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During leveling last Fall, we eliminated 257 positions to align our enrollment and staffing ratios. No campus-based employees have lost jobs during these cuts.
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We made significant operational cuts in 2018, including stipends, so the only cuts that will significantly help close the budget gap must now come from staff costs. To put it in perspective, we spend 86.2% of our budget on payroll.
The bottom line: The Board of Trustees will discuss the preliminary budget next week at its Board Information Session.
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Ultimately, what’s in the budget is up to the trustees, and they’ll make their final decision in June.
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We’ll continue digging into the details of the budget and how it may affect you in the next year.
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2. A round of applause for our Teacher of the Year Finalists!
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On Thursday, two elementary teachers at Perez and Ortega and two secondary teachers at Clifton Career Development School and at Lively Middle School found out they were finalists for Austin ISD Teacher of the Year (TOY).
Why it matters: Two of these finalists will be chosen as Austin ISD’s elementary and secondary TOY at Salute, our annual celebration of the district’s outstanding educators, and those winners will go on to compete for Texas TOY.
Dig deeper: These teachers are doing some amazing things:
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In less than a decade, Amador-Mercado has gone from moving from Puerto Rico to the Bronx without speaking English fluently to mentoring Social Studies teachers and supporting new dual-language social studies teachers.
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At Clifton, Antonio has partnered with PREP kitchen to teach students food industry business.
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Johnston has taught her Perez dual language students that being bilingual writers gives them more ways to communicate complex ideas more accurately.
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Rogers has implemented a coding and circuits project to give students a creative way to present their essays at Lively.
Cristina’s thought bubble: Be sure to click the link on each teacher’s name above and see their faces when they were surprised by the Teacher of the Year finalist honor!
What’s next: The winners will be announced at Salute on Thursday, May 12 at the Austin ISD Performing Arts Center.
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We will also honor winners in six other categories, including classified staff of the year, PTA of the year, librarian of the year, counselor of the year, assistant principal of the year and principal of the year.
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The event will also honor Teachers of Promise.
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3. Bedicheck, Crockett showcase AVID program to nationwide visitors
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| AVID visitors at Crockett Early College High School. |
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Leaders from 37 school districts nationwide visited Austin ISD last week to learn how they could bring AVID to their students.
Why it matters: What’s happening here in Austin ISD is leading movements for thousands of students to be college-ready.
The big picture: The district leaders visited Bedichek Middle School, which is an AVID National Demonstration School, and Crockett Early College High School, an Aspiring AVID National Demonstration School.
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The campuses showcased the AVID programming, including college prep, leadership development, and tutoring.
What they're saying: “With AVID Schoolwide, our focus is on learning for all students in all classrooms and closing opportunity gaps,” Bedichek Principal Michael Herbin said.“The impact of a common set of rigorous, student-centered, WICOR-based expectations across all disciplines cannot be understated. With AVID schoolwide critical thinking is built in, collaboration is built-in, and balanced literacy strategies are built-in. And those factors mean college readiness is also built-in."
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4. This week’s engagement opportunities
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❗ Campus-based staff: We’re extending the deadline for Climate Survey responses until April 14!
📍 You have one more week to submit feedback on the preliminary draft map for new single-member trustee districts.
📆 Save the date: Join us for a Budget Update later this month.
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💡 Austin Energy’s EV for Schools partnership shows our students the power of electric vehicles. (Generation 180)
🎉 Eastside Early College High School and International High School celebrate the campus’ grand opening last week. (KVUE)
🎈 Students and staff at the brand new Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders cut the ribbon last week during a grand opening celebration. (Fox 7)
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6. COVID-19 cases rise to 51
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Our COVID-19 cases jumped to 51 last week, an increase of 34%.
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We saw 13 staff cases, a 30% decrease from last week.
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Student cases increased by 20 cases from the previous week, coming in at 38 cases.
The bottom line: We’re seeing an increase, but not a surge in cases.
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