2017 is off to a great start for the Austin Chamber of Commerce and its education programs.

Chamber Visits Lawmakers to Keep Local and Restore State Funding for Public School
Recently, the Chamber testified before House Appropriations Committee about the massive drain on local property taxes. In FY2019, Austin taxpayers will send more money in local property taxes to Robin Hood than to Travis County or City of Austin. See Chamber testimony here.

On February 8, the Chamber led a group of more than 100 community members to the Texas State Capitol to advocate for its 2017 legislative agenda. At the top of that agenda is school finance reform. Chamber volunteers met with dozens of lawmakers and staff to advocate for a change to the current Robin Hood school finance system. Austin ISD taxpayers are set to send $1.1 billion to the state in recapture payments over the coming biennium. That is enough money to raise every Austin teacher’s salary by $70,000 or give every Austin ISD graduate a $40,000 college scholarship. It also is much needed funding that could be used to improve and modernize the education experience for all of AISD students including the 60% of Austin ISD students that are on free or supported lunch.

The Chamber's Affordability Agenda Aims to Increase Housing Supply, Diversify Economy, and address other Challenges to Lower the Cost of Living in Austin
This month, the Chamber rolled out its Affordability Agenda. We have put together a broad and diverse coalition which represents more than 100 business and community organizations invested in and committed to Austin’s affordability. Our Housing supply is not meeting market demands, our permitting process is broken and job creation has dropped from 4% in November 2016 to 1.9% in December 2016. Our Affordability Agenda is designed to make housing and real estate more affordable, our economy more diverse, and our costs to do business more affordable. You can view our Affordability Agenda by clicking here.

Texas Workforce Commission Releases New Student/Counselor Tools for College and Career Planning
The Texas Workforce Commission recently announced the addition of an interactive learning activity to TexasCareerCheck.com called Pop-a-Job where students can solve randomly selected occupation title puzzles, which helps them learn about potential careers. As students solve puzzles, the occupation titles are listed on the screen. By clicking on the potential career options they can find a summary of the job potential salaries, employment rate, required education level and other important information. Information is also available on colleges and universities in the U.S. by searching institution names, states or programs of study.

TWC has also added a useful tool for Counselors. The High School Personal Graduation Plan allows Counselors to collect important student information on interactive PDF forms that track coursework, endorsement selections and progress, STARR performance, College Readiness, and more. Documents can be saved for each student, and they remain interactive even after being saved.

Improving Computer Science in K12: TEALS (Technology Education and Literacy in Schools) has models of support to help K12 schools develop their computer science offerings. By partnering with TEALS, experienced teachers get access to guest speakers, community resources, and lab support while teachers new to CS have more direct day to day support in the classroom, with co-teaching, curriculum, and more. TEALS has more flexibility to work with classes during any period of the day and by can use more external curriculum than in the past. If you apply to work with TEALS, it is not a commitment to running the program. The application allows TEALS to schedule a meeting with your school to explore the best ways to support those schools! If you have any specific questions, please feel free to email John Jannone (john@tealsk12.org), the TEALS regional manager based in Austin. The TEALS informational booklet is also a good glimpse into the program.

AISD Facilities Master Plan Sets Community Collaboration Dates
Austin Independent School District is seeking input from the community at large with regards to their Facilities Master Plan. The plan is designed to modernize AISD facilities so children are safe, warm, dry and learning in the best academic environments. There will be seven opportunities for feedback throughout the city from Feb 21 – Mar 2, a schedule of events can be found here.

All of Austin’s residents, not just parents or direct stakeholders’ opinions are sought.

Chamber Supports SB22 to Improve Career/Tech Ed
Thank you to Lt. Governor Patrick, Chair Larry Taylor and the members of the Texas Senate who have written and cosponsored SB22. The 2,900 employers of the Austin Chamber of Commerce are keenly focused on high-quality ways to build the Central Texas talent pool. We encourage support for SB22. P-Tech, based upon a successful approach in New York championed by IBM, represents a strong step in that direction. Austin ISD is working with Dell, Seton, the Austin Chamber and other businesses locally to build multiple P-Tech campuses, with support from Governor Greg Abbott. In brief, a P-Tech student can complete up to 6 years of study, beginning in 9th grade, free of charge. Higher education, public education and employers can work in concert to ensure the content and quality is appropriate for middle skill employment.