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H-E-B Chairman Pledges $100 Million for Teacher Training Center

Jorge Sanhueza-Lyon/KUT News
Kate Rogers, a vice president at H-E-B, announces the establishment of the Holdsworth Center for Excellence in Education Leadership, at Garza Independence High School on Tuesday.

H-E-B chairman and CEO Charles Butt has pledged $100 million for the creation of an institute to help school superintendents, principals and district administrators across the state.

At an announcement Tuesday for the Holdsworth Center for Excellence in Education Leadership, Austin Independent School District Superintendent Paul Cruz said training in best practices could help district leadership.  

“There’s a lot of potential in our kids, there’s a lot of potential in public education,” Cruz said at the event at Garza Independence High School. “This opportunity will bring that potential to the forefront so that we all work together to learn and experience and get better at educating our kids and having these great learning environments for all of our students.”

Credit Jorge Sanhueza-Lyon/KUT News
Ruth Simmons, a past president of Brown University, was chosen as the first chairwoman of the Holdsworth Center's board of directors.

Ruth Simmons, who became the first black president of an Ivy League university when she took up the role at Brown in 2001, was tapped as the Holdsworth Center’s first chairwoman. At the event Tuesday, she said she was grateful to Butt for creating the center and that it was “enormously significant in endorsing the idea that our children matter, that we can do better for our public schools, and that we all need to step up to assist in that.”

More than 20 Texas districts, including Austin and Round Rock, have been invited to apply for the development program, which will launch this summer.