Austin Current

08/21/2026

Communities across the country have struggled to develop policies surrounding data centers at the same pace they have been proposed and built. The same is true for Austin, where the city lacks a specific land use classification for traditional and AI data centers, leaving city leaders with limited regulatory authority.

Now, some Austin City Council members are racing to get ahead of the issue before a hyper-scale facility is proposed within city limits and taps into the city’s strained water and energy resources.

Read more at the link in the bio.

08/20/2026

Following the money: Austin City Council candidates posted their first major campaign finance reports ahead of the November election.

More than 20 candidates are running for five open seats on the council, just one of which, ’s District 1, doesn’t have an incumbent running for reelection.

Browse district-by-district graphics in our story to compare how much each candidate raised and spent from January through June 30, along with brief backgrounds of who’s running in each race.

More than 20 candidates are running for five Austin City Council seats this November. Here’s how much they’ve raised and spent so far.

08/18/2026

high school students went to new “bus hubs” for the first time Tuesday morning to catch their daily ride to school. Rather than neighborhood bus stops, the hubs serve as centralized locations for students to get picked up and were introduced this summer as a cost-saving measure.

One parent, Jennifer Johnson, waited outside Baranoff Elementary School for her high schooler to be picked up from the hub. She said she felt like these bus hubs were still relatively untested, particularly now that school traffic is back with the year in session.

Head to the link in our bio for the full story on what Austin ISD’s first day back in school looked like after a tumultuous summer.

✍️: Acacia Coronado
📽️: Chase Karacostas
📷: Leila Saidane for Austin Current

08/18/2026

What does the first day of school look like for Austin ISD students? Pretty different from last year.

🏫 Eleven schools have closed, including one, Paredes Middle School, that shuttered just weeks ago. Thousands of affected students and their families are now finding their way to new schools.

🚌 Many high school students are now going to “bus hubs” at centralized locations to catch a ride, rather than the usual neighborhood pickup.

🏛️ Two schools received a fifth failing accountability rating, possibly triggering a state takeover.

Check out our story for more.

✍️ & 📽️: Acacia Coronado

08/18/2026

What does the first day of school look like for Austin ISD students? Pretty different from last year.

🏫 Eleven schools have closed, including one, Paredes Middle School, that shuttered just weeks ago. Thousands of affected students and their families are now finding their way to new schools.

🚌 Many high school students are now going to “bus hubs” at centralized locations to catch a ride, rather than the usual neighborhood pickup.

🏛️ Two schools received a fifth failing accountability rating, possibly triggering a state takeover.

Check out our story for more.

Austin ISD families returned to classrooms Tuesday after months of budget cuts, campus closures and transportation changes.

08/17/2026

📈 Austin’s property tax rate is now roughly 31% higher since 2017, reaching the highest point in at least a decade.

The new tax rate, 57.99 cents per $100 of taxable value, amounts to a 3.5% increase over last year. The higher tax rate came with the city’s new $6.6 billion budget for the next fiscal year.

🏠 Holding a home’s taxable value constant, the city’s higher tax rate means a homeowner with a $400,000 property would pay about $550 more in city property taxes than they would have in 2017.
📉 It’s not always been this way. As home values surged during the pandemic, Austin lowered its tax rate because rising appraisals generated more revenue.

But slower growth in recent years has meant a higher tax rate was needed to meet the city’s growing budget needs.

Head to the link in our bio for more on how the city’s tax rate has fluctuated over the years and why some at the city opposed the new increase.

✍️: Sam Stark
📷: Sergio Flores for Austin Current

08/17/2026

Austin’s property tax rate is now roughly 31% higher since 2017, reaching the highest point in at least a decade.

🏠 Holding a home’s taxable value constant, the city’s higher tax rate means a homeowner with a $400,000 property would pay about $550 more in city property taxes than they would have in 2017.
📉 It’s not always been this way. As home values surged during the pandemic, Austin lowered its tax rate because rising appraisals generated more revenue.

But slower growth in recent years has meant a higher tax rate was needed to meet the city’s growing budget needs.

Austin’s property tax rate has climbed 31% since 2017, reaching its highest level in a decade under the city’s new budget.

08/14/2026

Austin ISD is the only Texas district to trigger a potential state takeover, after two AISD middle schools received their fifth consecutive failing ratings. The fate of the district is now in the Texas Education Agency’s hands.

Here’s what you need to know:

📝 Two chronically failing middle schools, Webb and Burnet, both received “F” ratings for the fifth time in a row. A third, Dobie Middle School, broke its failing streak and earned a “D”.

🏛️ State law requires the Texas Education Agency to step in and either replace the locally elected school board with an appointed board of managers or close the failing schools.

The Houston and Wichita Falls school districts have hit this wall before. So how did it go for them? Read our story for more.

Burnet and Webb middle schools triggered mandatory TEA action. Here’s how state intervention could reshape Austin ISD in the months ahead.

08/13/2026

📚 could be taken over by the state after two of its schools received a fifth failing accountability rating from the .

But what does that mean for AISD and its students? Acacia Coronado explains. Head to the link in our bio for the full story.

✍️ & 📽️: Acacia Coronado
📷: Leila Saidane and Eli Hartman for Austin Current

08/13/2026

Austin ISD could be taken over by the state after two of its schools received a fifth failing accountability rating from the Texas Education Agency.

➡️ Webb and Burnet middle schools both received an “F” rating
➡️ Dobie Middle School broke its streak of consecutive failing ratings and received a “D” rating

Check out our story for the full rundown of what these ratings mean for the district, and what happens next for AISD.

The preliminary fifth failing rating for Burnet and Webb middle schools means the education commissioner could close the schools or takeover Austin ISD.