News from February 2023
City of Austin Housing Finance Corporation Board of Directors will meet March 9
By Angelica Saylo Pilo | Feb 28, 2023
City of Austin Housing Finance Corporation Board of Directors will meet at 10:30 a.m., Thursday, March 9
Round Rock pastor promotes value of education savings accounts
By Juliette Fairley | Feb 27, 2023
If the Texas Legislature approves education savings accounts (ESAs), parents can expect school boards statewide to pay attention when they speak at their meetings, according to a Round Rock pastor and father.
City of Austin City Council will meet March 9
By Angelica Saylo Pilo | Feb 27, 2023
City of Austin City Council will meet at 10 a.m., Thursday, March 9
City of Austin City Council met Dec. 22
By Angelica Saylo Pilo | Feb 26, 2023
City of Austin City Council met Thursday, Dec. 22
City of Austin Public Health Committee will meet March 8
By Angelica Saylo Pilo | Feb 26, 2023
City of Austin Public Health Committee will meet at 10 a.m., Wednesday, March 8
City of Austin City Council met Dec. 21
By Angelica Saylo Pilo | Feb 25, 2023
City of Austin City Council met Wednesday, Dec. 21
Middleton: 'Diversity, equity and inclusion departments in our universities are the opposite of academic freedom'
By Austin Journal Report | Feb 24, 2023
Texas State Sen. Mayes Middleton (R) called for the banning of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) offices and statements in colleges and universities in a tweet published on Feb. 12.
McCormick: 'Modern leaders understand that people and profit aren’t on opposite ends of a dichotomy'
By Laurie A. Luebbert | Feb 24, 2023
JeVon McCormick knows what it’s like to “edit himself” as part of an effort to fit in. He had an easy fix, going by “JT” instead of “JeVon” because, as he explains, “JeVon didn’t get callbacks and interviews, but JT did.”
Education policy expert: 'Private schools have emerged all over rural Florida'
By Austin Journal Report | Feb 24, 2023
"Step Up For Students" policy and public affairs director Ron Matus argued that rural families would benefit from school choice policies
Abbott says the way to help students ‘is with school choice through state-funded Education Savings Accounts’
By Tamara Browning | Feb 24, 2023
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott pledged to make educational freedom for parents “an emergency item this session” in advocating again for state-funded education savings accounts during his “State of the State Address” on Feb. 16 at rare earth elements business Noveon, in San Marcos, Texas.
Abbott shows his support of education savings: ‘We must ensure that our education system works for every child’
By Tamara Browning | Feb 24, 2023
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott reiterated his support of education savings accounts he outlined in his Feb. 16 “State of The State Address” during an address at Central Texas Christian School in Temple, Texas.
City of Austin City Council met Dec. 8
By Angelica Saylo Pilo | Feb 24, 2023
City of Austin City Council met Thursday, Dec. 8
City of Austin City Council met Dec. 6
By Angelica Saylo Pilo | Feb 23, 2023
City of Austin City Council met Tuesday, Dec. 6
Binance: Crypto has a ‘fundamental responsibility … to prove that a few bad actors are not emblematic of the industry’
By Lucas Nava | Feb 22, 2023
Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange by volume, stated its belief that prioritizing risk management, transparency, disclosures and security is crucial to restoring trust in the industry, which suffered through a turbulent year, in a policy paper titled "Building Trust in the Crypto Ecosystem."
City of Austin Mobility Committee will meet March 2
By Angelica Saylo Pilo | Feb 22, 2023
City of Austin Mobility Committee will meet at 1 p.m., Thursday, March 2
How to eliminate Texas school property taxes in 10 years (or less)
By Don Huffines and Bill Peacock, Huffines Liberty Foundation | Feb 21, 2023
Texas’ school M&O property tax, about 43% of the current $76.4 total property tax levy, can be eliminated in as little as six years without raising any existing taxes or creating a new tax.
Spalding: DEI is 'toxic' and 'attacks the integrity' of academia
By Austin Journal Report | Feb 21, 2023
Dr. Matthew Spalding of Hillsdale College believes that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, which have grown among colleges and universities in recent years, are working against the purpose or idea of a university. He suggests that though the words diversity, equity and inclusion have good origins and goals, current DEI plans within higher education will lead to their opposite intended ends, namely "ostracization and exclusion."
Texas senators, PUC chair say subsidies for renewable power take away from 'what actually works'
By Sam Jackson | Feb 21, 2023
The Texas Senate Committee on Business & Commerce heard criticism of renewable power subsidies during a recent hearing on the Public Utility Commission's (PUC) efforts re-engineer the state's energy grid following Winter Storm Uri in 2021.
City of Austin Housing and Planning Committee will meet March 2
By Angelica Saylo Pilo | Feb 21, 2023
City of Austin Housing and Planning Committee will meet at 1 p.m., Thursday, March 2
Patrick includes 'Empowering Parental Rights' in his top 10 priorities for the Texas Legislative Session
By Austin Journal Report | Feb 20, 2023
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R-TX) published his top 30 priorities for the 88th Texas legislative session recently, and number eight on the list is a bill called “Empowering Parental Rights – Including School Choice,” which has been a topic of debate among state legislators.