Austin Independent School District’s billion-dollar spending plan will be put to a final vote tonight before the school board. At Reilly Elementary School in North Austin, cafeteria staff workers can start out at $7.25 an hour. Under this year’s budget, employees like Isabel Villanueva will get a one-time raise of three percent. “Everybody needs a raise. Things are going up higher,” Villanueva says, “so I think it’s good that we also get a raise.” The three-percent raise for all AISD employees is the first in three years and will cost the district $14 million. It’s being paid with the district’s emergency savings account, called the fund balance. Spending too much of the fund balance can affect a school district’s bond rating, resulting in higher interest...
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It’s been nearly a year since wildfires tore through Central Texas, burning more than 1,600 homes, killing two people and uprooting countless lives. Over the course of the last year, KUT News has been collecting stories from the people who lived through the fires....
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