The Texas Comptroller has developed a new tool to compare educational spending and student progress across schools in Texas.   Connecting the Dots:  School Spending and Student Progress identifies Texas school districts that achieve strong student performance while keeping spending growth to a minimum.  The 2009 Legislature directed the Comptroller's office to develop a method to compare school districts on a level playing field and to determine which districts allocate financial resources in a way that results in high academic achievement and cost-effective operations. 

Drawing on data from the Texas Education Agency and the Texas Schools Project of the University of Texas at Dallas and the expertise of UT-Dallas, UT-Austin, Texas A&M and Texas educators, the Comptroller created the Financial Allocation Study for Texas (FAST) methodology. This new rating system balances student progress against school spending while controlling for the varying characteristics of students, campuses and districts. 

An article in today's Community Impact Central Austin considers the potential repercussions of State budget cuts to mental health services.  Austin Travis County Integral Care reports in the article that there are 1,200 people waiting for mental health services on any given day and that number would increase if the state cuts the mental health services budget.  The impact of decreased behavioral health services would be felt the most in law enforcement and health care.

The rate of violent crime in Austin is lower than other cities of comparable size, but Austin's property crime is higher.  These are two findings in the Austin Police Department's annual report of the official crime statistics for Austin.  While the number of thefts and robberies grew, auto theft decreased and 75% of all stolen automobiles were successfully recovered.

The City of Austin has released a new Downtown Austin Plan and has created an on-line budget allocator to allow residents to help identify priorities for implementation.   The plan addresses permanent supportive housing, workforce housing, park improvements and other changes to downtown Austin.

The full Downtown Plan report can be downloaded at www.cityofaustin.org/downtown.  You can share your thoughts at www.speakupaustin.org.

Round three of the Imagine Austin Comprehensive Planning process engaged over 4,500 residents in voting on which growth scenario they prefer for Austin's future.  Austin is expected to double in size over the next 30 years, and the goal of "Which Way, Austin?" was to select the preferred scenario for that future growth.  The winner was the scenario with the most density, aligned in a north to south pattern along Interstate 35.  

What's next?  Two public hearings will be held on the preferred growth scenario early next year - one with the Planning Commission and one with the City Council.  Click here to sign up for email updates on the Comprehensive Planning process.

An estimated 15,000 local students will benefit from a one-time $1,000,000 grant to The Blueprint for Educational Change™ and RAISEup Texas partners from the Dell Foundation.  The goal of RAISEup Texas is to build college and career readiness in all students through the transformation of teaching and learning in eight middle schools across the Central Texas region. This grant will help implement the Strategic Instruction Model/Content Literacy Continuum from the University of Kansas-Center for Research on Learning as the basis for whole-school reform in eight middle schools including; Burnet, Dobie & Kealing (Austin ISD), Hill Country (Eanes ISD), Simon (Hays CISD), Wiley (Leander ISD), Hernandez (Round Rock ISD) and Goodnight (San Marcos CISD).

Meria Carstarphen, superintendent of Austin ISD said, "It's especially important to us that this is a collaborative regional approach among all of our districts. We are all concerned about middle school teaching and learning, and by working together, we can learn from each other and share best practices faster and further, impacting literally tens of thousands of students across the region to be successful in high school, college, career, and life."