Austin Signal

The Austin Independent School District is planning to cut hundreds of jobs in its upcoming budget, including teachers, librarians and campus law enforcement.

CapMetro’s Bikeshare system has been shut down since a fire Memorial Day weekend, with no timeline for resuming service. A forensic investigator is examining whether lithium-ion batteries caused the blaze at a CapMetro facility.

We’re coming up on the final weekend of the Kerrville Folk Festival. Let’s take a trip out to the Texas Hill Country This year’s iteration of the folk music mecca has special meaning after last summer’s deadly flooding in the Texas Hill Country.

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The full transcript of this episode of Austin Signal is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is also available as subtitles or captions on some podcast apps.

Jerry Quijano [00:00:08] The Austin Independent School District is planning to cut hundreds of jobs in its upcoming budget. That would include teachers, librarians, and campus law enforcement. It’s the latest slash as the district tries to make up a nearly $200 million dollar deficit. And Cap Metro’s bike share system has been shut down since the Memorial Day weekend and they’re not sure when it’s going to be back online. A forensic investigator is examining whether lithium ion batteries caused the problem. More about those stories coming up on today’s show.

KUT Announcer: Laurie Gallardo [00:00:37] The Austin Signal is a production of KUT News, hosted by Jerry Quijano.

Jerry Quijano [00:00:42] Plus, we’re coming up on the final weekend of the Kerrville Folk Festival. Let’s take a trip out to the Texas Hill Country to get a taste of the talent. We’ve got those stories and more coming up next, and it’s right here on Austin Signal. Thank you. Howdy out there. This is Austin Signal. It’s Thursday, June 4th. I’m your host, Jerry Kiechanal. The University of Texas at Austin has started the removal of the campus statue honoring Labor leader Cesar Chavez. The move comes as Chavez’s legacy is under scrutiny after a New York Times investigation earlier this year detailed allegations that he sexually abused women and girls. The KUT Newsroom is working on this developing story, and we’ll keep you updated here on Austin Signal The Austin Independent School District plans to cut hundreds of jobs next year, including teacher positions. That’s in the new draft of the budget released by the school district. Here to help us parse out what this new budget says is Greta Diaz-Gonzalez-Vazquez. She is KUT’s education reporter. Greta, thank you for being here.

Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:01:52] Hi Jerry.

Jerry Quijano [00:01:53] So I know one of the biggest things that folks are talking about is the loss of jobs coming out of this budget. Tell us more about that.

Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:01:59] Yes, yes, that’s the biggest thing. AISD said it would be 558 positions that will be affected. That does not mean that that number of people will lose their jobs. We just got numbers from the district yesterday because these were not numbers that were shared with the community as a whole. So they said that approximately 107 vacancies will be eliminated, so jobs that will not be filled and then 112 certified teachers will be impacted. Now Certified teachers are safe. They will not be laid off. They will just be placed in another school. So 49 out of those 112 have been placed and around 30 are either in progress or waiting for placement. And 58 will not placed in other school either because they have resigned or retired. 27 non-certified teachers will be impacted. So this means that they are not guaranteed a job. They might be laid off. They might without a job next school year for 2026, 2027 school year. TA teachers will also be impacted that will be 53 TA teachers. This number, they said that they will be notified between today and tomorrow. And we also know that 55 counselors and librarians will be impacted. They will be placed also in other campuses. And we can talk about librarians in a little bit. And they will also eliminate 228 department vacancies at the central office. So it’s a lot of cuts. Also, campus cuts overall will help save $31 million, because, well, yeah, there’s a big budget deficit, $181 million. And some of the changes at campuses will also include some that we already knew and we have discussed here on the signal, like cutting planning time for teachers, including now also elementary teachers. That used to be only for middle school and high schools. Now that also includes elementary teachers and increasing the student per teacher ratio at elementary schools. And then also now we know that they will cut the number of librarians. Campuses with less than 400 students will go to having 0.5 librarians. So that’s a part-time librarian. Same thing goes for counselors. The number of counselors per school will go down. And we also knew that they were gonna cut and they will continue with this, special education and bilingual stipends. I talked to a teacher who was impacted by the cuts or who was told that her position would not. Be kept. We have heard from her before. It’s a teacher that used to work at Becker. Then she was assigned to another school and then that position has been cut. Her name is Christina coral. Let’s listen to her. So it’s been

Christina Kora [00:04:50] been a roller coaster, an emotional roller coaster the entire time. And I think I can speak for many of my colleagues that have also been cut when I say that the main way that this has affected us is not only financial insecurity, job security, but the fact that Many of us don’t believe that we have been considered as professionals. We have mainly just been considered as a number, as a way to save the district money.

Jerry Quijano [00:05:21] So let’s talk about those 550 plus impacted positions. How is it being decided who stays, who goes? What do we know about that?

Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:05:30] Right, right. Like I mentioned, certified teachers, Superintendent Matias Segura said that they have a job secured. Maybe they will be moved to a different campus, but they will have a job. Now non-certified staff could be facing layoffs, could be facing like a part-time position as well. The district has many vacancies, so they will start cutting from there, but that doesn’t mean that they have enough vacancies to cut that nobody will be affected. In case of librarians, for example, what I’ve been told is that the district will reduce the number of librarians. But that doesn’t mean that some schools will, or librarians will be cut more like, that doesn’ mean that librarians will lose a job. It means that some librarians will move to another school to do part-time at their current school and then part- time at another school. And then I talked to Ken Seraphis, who’s the president of Education Austin. And he told me that it’s very painful because this time around the cuts will impact the whole district. Let’s hear him.

Ken Zarafis [00:06:26] If you look at the details in there, it’s about everything. It’s about every position or about every part of AISD is having to give up money. And it’s really hard because this is all for kids. That’s the end of the day, this is for all kids. And the kids are gonna suffer because of this. They’re gonna have less because of these.

Jerry Quijano [00:06:47] Greta, you’ve been doing some reporting on your series of last about AISD closing ten campuses next year or this summer. Did that have any impact on the budget at all?

Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:06:57] So this is not an impact that they’re putting in there. Closing these campuses has helped save $1.5 million. So if this hadn’t happened, we would be looking at a budget deficit of over $200 million. So I would say, yes, it did help, but in the end, they are still working on, they had already considered those cuts for next school year. So we’re still looking at budget that’s $181 million. So clearly it did not help enough. And the cuts are being felt across the district.

Jerry Quijano [00:07:29] Okay, we have more about this budget draft over at KUT.org. It is just a draft proposal. How much time is left to make a change or save any jobs as part of this draft?

Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:07:39] Yeah, the board will discuss it tonight. They will get more information, but they also have to vote on it by June 18th or they’re expected to do so by June, 18th. So not a lot of time.

Jerry Quijano [00:07:50] What else are you expecting from that?

Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:07:53] I think a lot of people will show up to the board meeting to talk during public comment. So I’m hoping to be there and talk to impacted teachers, to parents, to staff, and just hear what the community has to say.

Jerry Quijano [00:08:05] Alright, that is Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vazquez, she is KUT’s education reporter. Thank you for talking with us.

Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:08:10] Thank you, Jerry.

Jerry Quijano [00:08:19] CapMetro’s bike share system is still shut down. Almost 500 electric bikes have been off the roads since Memorial Day weekend after a fire at a CapMeto facility. As KUT’s Nathan Bernier reports, there’s still no estimate on when service will be restored.

Nathan Bernier [00:08:35] Cap Metro bike share is supposed to be easy. You unlock a bike with your phone, ride it across town, dock it when you’re done. Costs $2.50 for half an hour or 10 bucks a day. Students can get an annual pass for $75 or less. Tag Brown, who lives in South Austin, uses it when friends come to town.

Tag Brown [00:08:55] I love the bike share. It’s an awesome service. And I feel like once you see Austin from a bike, you see it from a new perspective.

Nathan Bernier [00:09:01] Over Memorial Day weekend, Brown was on South Congress Avenue, near the bike share station in front of Joe’s Coffee, and immediately he realized something was very wrong.

Tag Brown [00:09:10] I noticed when I got out of the car the sky was just filled with white smoke and it was almost like ACL headliner level of like smoke coverage and one of the bikes was docked in the station, it was just smoking profusely, just emitting so much smoke. Fire department came, they sprayed it with water for quite a while. The smoke itself though was putrid and you know it just had like kind of a sulfuric scent to it and you got a little bit and you’re like I need to move away from this immediately.

Nathan Bernier [00:09:37] Cap Metro confirmed that incident involved a bike battery. And just a few hours later, that same Saturday night, May 23rd, an even bigger fire broke out at the facility that keeps the whole bike share system running.

Austin Fire Department Radio [00:09:51] We have a single-story capital metro building with gray smoke coming out of the eaves.

Nathan Bernier [00:09:59] This is Austin Fire Department radio communication from that night. The building is on an 11-acre cat metro facility on East Ben White Boulevard at Judson Road, just east of Burleson. When firefighters showed up, they couldn’t even enter the building because it was too smoky and too hot.

Firefighters [00:10:15] We have pretty hot heat inside, over 300 degrees with those ceilings, low visibility, so we need a ventilate before we start sending people in here.

Nathan Bernier [00:10:25] They forced open some roll-up doors. Fire hoses were hooked up. Engine 6 fire, fire.

Firefighters [00:10:30] Hydrogen, charge the line.

Nathan Bernier [00:10:32] Some of the smoke cleared out, and they finally got inside and located the source of the fire.

Firefighters [00:10:38] We believe it’s the batteries, while they’re popping up, we’re still fighting that, but visibility has gotten better. And it is a little bit cooler.

Nathan Bernier [00:10:49] The Fire Incident Report says it was a room filled with batteries. Firefighters cooled them enough to load them into bins, rolled them outside, and dunk them into water.

Firefighters [00:10:59] Inside division, do we have fire knocked down? Yes, we do.

Nathan Bernier [00:11:03] The Austin Fire Department would not provide an interview to KUT News, but confirmed the fire is not being investigated as an arson. The next day, Cap Metro shut down Bike Share citywide. All the bikes had been removed from docking stations across the city, and there’s no estimate for when the service will be restored. So to understand how one fire could take hundreds of bikes off the street, you have to understand what Austin’s Bike Share system came to be.

Chris Riley [00:11:31] What a beautiful and fantastic day here in Austin, Texas. We’re here today to announce an exciting new way for Austinites to get around town.

Nathan Bernier [00:11:40] It actually began way back in 2013, as B-Cycle, the late city council member Chris Riley, a big bike guy, was at the announcement.

Chris Riley [00:11:49] Bike sharing is an innovative way to make short trips by bike a convenient and affordable option for many in our community.

Nathan Bernier [00:11:55] It started with old fashioned, non-electric pedal bikes. Eventually they brought in electric bikes that give you an extra boost when you’re pedaling. And they were so popular that the Cap Metro executive in charge of the program announced they were going 100% electric.

CapMetro [00:12:11] It’s been very clear to us that e-assist bikes are what people prefer, it’s what people want. Those are used three to five times more often than the human powered, manual powered bikes.

Nathan Bernier [00:12:23] CapMetro went looking for a company to supply the bikes. In 2024, they settled on PBSC Urban Solutions.

CapMetro Board Member [00:12:31] A lot of you might not be familiar with that, but they’re in about 50 cities around the world.

Nathan Bernier [00:12:35] And they’re owned by Lyft, the rideshare company. But there was one little detail that confused a Cat Metro board member. The docking stations don’t actually charge these new e-bikes.

Speaker 15 [00:12:46] They have to be charged someplace else. I’m not sure I followed that statement earlier.

CapMetro Board Member [00:12:50] The current plan is replacing them as is. There’s going to be solar charging to charge like the equipment and the electronics. And eventually with this expansion plan, we’re going to look more into electrifying some of the stations so that they charge when they dock. But that’s not the initial replacement piece.

Nathan Bernier [00:13:07] Instead, workers had to swap out the batteries, drive the depleted batteries to that facility on East Benwhite Boulevard, and hook them up to chargers. That might sound kind of weird, but it’s actually a pretty standard industry practice among bike share programs. Right now, fewer than one out of five bike share stations can actually charge the bikes. And that’s what made the facility on Benwhite so critical.

CapMetro [00:13:30] All right, I think both of you should be here. Art Jackson with CHAT Metro and Nathan Bernier with KUT.

Nathan Bernier [00:13:37] The CapMetro executive in charge of bike share, Art Jackson, says they want to understand what happened before they restore the service.

Art Jackson [00:13:44] The safety and wellbeing of our customers and the community is our first priority. We don’t think that there’s a significant safety issue, but we don’t know. Andy says they don’t want to jump to any conclusions. It’s somewhat unclear. That’s why we wanted an independent third party to come in and give us some answers as to what happened. And as soon as we get that information, we’ll be happy to share it.

Nathan Bernier [00:14:12] A very open and transparent way. That third-party investigator is a forensic consultant called Rimkus, spelled R-I-M-K-U-S, started by a chemical engineer out of Houston in the 80s. They have expertise investigating lithium-ion battery fires. And Rimkus is well-known to people in the field, like University of Texas professor D.K. Ezekoia. He spent decades researching things like battery safety and fire forensics, and As Okoye says, lithium-ion batteries are generally safe. But when failures happen, they can be intense.

1. K. Ezekoye [00:14:43] Unfortunately, when a single cell fails, it goes to very high temperatures, hundreds of degrees up to, you know, say 2000 degrees Fahrenheit or so, and then it spews out.

Nathan Bernier [00:14:54] Toxic and flammable gasses.” But Ezekoia says the presence of burned batteries does not prove they started the fire. He’s even seen arson cases where batteries were used to try and throw off investigators.

1. K. Ezekoye [00:15:07] This is where it gets complicated. So fires happen, of course, fires have always happened, but trying to identify whether the battery was the cause of the fire or itself was attacked by the fire is a subject of intense research.

Nathan Bernier [00:15:21] CapMetro says Rimkus is also investigating that bike battery incident earlier the same day on South Congress Avenue. But for now, bike share docks are empty across Austin, and how soon they’ll be filled with electric bikes again depends at least in part on what investigators find inside the battery room that kept the system running. I’m Nathan Bernier in Austin.

Jerry Quijano [00:15:43] Thank you for tuning in to Austin Signal. We will have more coming up after this break. This is Austin Signal, welcome back. The Texas softball team beat Texas Tech last night in the first game of the Women’s College World Series Championship. The Longhorns will be the national champion, two years running, if they can win Game 2 tonight. If not, they will play a decisive Game 3 tomorrow night. Both of those games are at 7 o’clock. You can catch them on ESPN. And the San Antonio Spurs lost to the New York Knicks last night. That’s 12 wins in a row for the Knicks. Spurs looking to bounce back tomorrow night in San Antonio. Nine miles southwest of Kerrville, you’ll find Quiet Valley Ranch, where the Kerrvill Folk Festival has for more than half a century hosted one of Texas’ quirkiest traditions. It’s a folk music mecca for singer-songwriters and the people who love hearing them. And after last year’s devastating floods, a gathering place that many festival-goers say feels more meaningful than ever. Texas Public Radio’s Jack Morgan takes us there.

Jack Morgan [00:17:07] Welcome home. The greeting at the gate was simple, welcome home. The phrase appeared on signs throughout the grounds and was repeated often by festival goers. Austin I. Genie Hastings has been coming to the Kerrville Folk Festival for decades.

Genie Hastings [00:17:22] I first came out to Kerrville Folk Festival in 1978. I was eighteen years old.

Jack Morgan [00:17:28] Hastings became an unofficial guide, taking me around and introducing me to people she’s met over the years. Greg Bruce and his wife don’t just come for the music.

Greg Bruce [00:17:37] We have a booth that we vend at selling vintage clothing and Juniper Fair vintage wear.

Jack Morgan [00:17:43] And when people gather year after year, friendships deepen.

Greg Bruce [00:17:47] Our friends we make every year, they just multiply, so we’ve got more people to reunite with each year.

Jack Morgan [00:17:54] I came across an Austinite with deep roots to the festival.

Olive Clementine Massey [00:17:57] My name is Olive Clementine Massey, but at Kerrville I’m Ollie Clem. My mom is the crew leader of the trash crew in recycling and she’s Kelly Woe or Mama Woe.

Jack Morgan [00:18:08] All of a sudden there was, strangely, one very small upside to last year’s floods. Volunteers who came to help the Kerrville community recover were introduced to the festival for the first time.

Olive Clementine Massey [00:18:19] With the floods that happened last year, people came and volunteered just to help around Kerrville. And that’s, now we have 40% up ticket buyers. They’re all newcomers.

Jack Morgan [00:18:28] The campgrounds are also where longtime attendees find creative and sometimes absurd ways to entertain themselves.

Olive Clementine Massey [00:18:35] In the campgrounds we have some like Kerti Gra, which is Mardi Gras but it’s curvil style and we dance and take courtesy carts which is the little golf carts and put decorations all over them and then dance and make music.

Jack Morgan [00:18:48] Olive has also embraced the idea that Kerrville is more than just a place you visit every May.

Olive Clementine Massey [00:18:54] It is my home. Instead of coming to Kerrville and saying welcome to Kerrrville, it’s welcome home.

Jack Morgan [00:18:59] Jeannie Hastings was here during the flood and nearly witnessed a tragedy.

Greg Bruce [00:19:04] Met a gentleman from Germany, and he and his car got washed away down on Turtle Creek, and we happened to be witness to that. I went downstream with a flashlight looking for him. Fortunately, he came out of the river, and no harm was done except to that rental car he had. Yeah.

Jack Morgan [00:19:21] Another tradition at the festival, parents bringing in their children year after year until those kids eventually find their own place in the community. Gary Cross says there are adults here now who first arrive.

Gary Cross [00:19:35] Sawyer used to come by our camp when he was, what, three and a half, four, with his little plastic guitar. His mom and dad would bring him by every day. He’s now just graduated from the Nashville School of Music.

Jack Morgan [00:19:46] This isn’t just a campground, it’s a temporary community where many people stay for the Folk Festival’s 18-day run. Kross said his 28 years of going have taught him that.

Gary Cross [00:19:57] Every adult to care kid that I know is a good human being. Without fail, every single one of them.

Jack Morgan [00:20:02] He suggested I let the music, drifting from campsite to campsite, draw me in.

Gary Cross [00:20:07] That’s the way to really experience this is wonder. You follow your ear and your heart and go where the music leads you.

Jack Morgan [00:20:14] I didn’t have to wander far. Cross’s sprawling tent setup featured a refrigerator, folding chairs, guitars, and plenty of people playing them.

Aaron Potter [00:20:27] I’m Aaron Potter, I’m from San Diego, California. Potter looked right at home. For me, it’s mostly about, you know, jamming, getting to know people, meeting, you know, other songwriters, especially. It’s really helpful to developing material to get another ear on it.

Jack Morgan [00:20:43] Potter was having a blast when I moved on to the next campsite.

Bill Nash [00:20:46] My name is Bill Nash, I’ve been coming to Kerrville since 1994, been playing music all my life.

Jack Morgan [00:20:54] Nash started on French horn, then picked up the guitar at 14.

Bill Nash [00:20:58] I played horn all the way through college. I got a degree in composition and orchestration, which was because I wanted to be the next John Williams.

Jack Morgan [00:21:07] Nash has accomplished a great deal, despite a major challenge.

Bill Nash [00:21:10] I’m in my 38th year with MS.

Jack Morgan [00:21:13] As I wandered to another campsite, I came across what looked like nearly a pickup load of sand.

Christie Atkins [00:21:18] My name is Christie Atkinson and I am from the Franklin, Texas area, which is near College Station. My father, the amazing Walter, is from South Padre Island, Texas.

Jack Morgan [00:21:29] She was building an elaborate sandcastle when I walked up.

Christie Atkins [00:21:32] He’s especially known as the arch wizard. He makes arches and towers and he’s a castle guy, so I learned to be a castle girl too.

Jack Morgan [00:21:41] Atkisson thinks her fascination with the Kerrville

Christie Atkins [00:21:44] Makes perfect sense. My background is in performance art. I was a clown with Ringling Brothers Circus. For about five years I’ve traveled all over the place doing entertainment.

Jack Morgan [00:21:53] Christie punctuated nearly every sentence with laughter.

Christie Atkins [00:21:56] They need to find something new to do. If you don’t love it, do something else.

Jack Morgan [00:22:01] Everyone we’d heard so far had been out at the campsites, but the music your ticket gets you is also for the main stage. I spent most of the afternoon in the campground so I decided to head up to the mainstage area as the evening entertainment began. This was Yasmine Williams, I asked for her favorite musician.

Yasmine Williams [00:22:24] Nirvana, Jimi Hendrix, Iron Man by Black Sabbath. And then I discovered alternate tunings kind of a year into playing. And then that was what I was interested in. I learned Blackbird by The Beatles, my first fingerstyle kind of song. And I was hooked.

Jack Morgan [00:22:43] Williams’ guitar technique was rhythmic and sophisticated and warmly received by the audience. This was the first Kerrville Folk Festival since the July 4th floods devastated parts of the Hill Country. But across Quiet Valley Ranch, people talked less about the tragedy than about returning to music, friendship, and traditions. Again and again, festival goers described Kerrvill as something more than a festival. They call it home. I’m Jack Morgan in Kerrville.

Jerry Quijano [00:23:19] And that is it for today’s show. Thank you for tuning in. Spending part of the day here with us. If you want to hear more about those stories or read more about them or see more about them, you can find more about them in the podcast show notes and at kut.org slash signal. Rayna Sevilla is our technical director, Alexandra Hart is our producer, and Kristen Cabrera is our managing producer. I’m your host, Jerry Quijano, and we will be back tomorrow right here on Austin Signal. Have a lovely day.

This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.