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The Austin Independent School District is set to cut more than 200 educator salaries as they work to address a multimillion-dollar budget deficit. District officials have also identified other ways to reduce the deficit, including cuts to the central office and projected revenue from real estate sales.
The City of Austin has given the green light to almost a million dollars in taxpayer money toward a lawsuit alleging city and state police raided the wrong home in South Austin. We’ll hear more about the lawyers they’re using in this case and others.
Three young brothers in TX who play mariachi music were detained by ICE back in February as a part of President Trump’s immigration crack down. The brothers got out 2 weeks later, and country music super star Kasey Musgraves heard their story and invited the boys on the Texas leg of her new tour. We’ll hear more about their story.
Austin Psych Fest kicks off today and there are plenty of local acts to catch over the weekend. We’ve got the names you’ll want to keep your eyes and ears on.
Austin Signal is made possible by listeners like you. You can support our work by making a donation at supportthispodcast.org
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 set to cut more than 200 educator salaries as they work to address a multi-million dollar budget deficit. District officials have also identified other ways to reduce that deficit, including cuts to the central office and projected revenue from real estate sales. And the City of Austin has given the green light to almost a million dollars in taxpayer money toward a lawsuit alleging city and state police raided the wrong home in South Austin. More about the lawyers they’re using in this case and others coming up on today’s show
KUT Announcer: Laurie Gallardo [00:00:38] The Austin Signal is a production of KUT News, hosted by Jerry Quijano.
Jerry Quijano [00:00:43] Plus, Austin Psych Fest kicks off today, and there are plenty of local acts to catch over the weekend. We’ve got the names you want to keep your eyes and ears on. We’ve those stories and a whole lot more. Coming up next, and it’s right here on Austin Signal. Howdy out there. You are tuned in to Austin Signal. I’m your host, Jerry Keconnell. It is Friday, May 8th. Thank you for making us part of your day and thank you for tuning in. This is community powered public radio KUT News. Facing a 181 million dollar budget deficit for the 2026-27 academic year, Austin Independent School District announced this week major cuts to educator salaries with 215 positions affected. Teachers and parents showed up at an AISD Board of Trustees meeting last night to voice their concerns, and KUT’s education reporter, Greta Diaz-Gonzalez-Vasquez was there. She is joining us now on Austin Signal. Good afternoon, Greta.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:01:48] Hello Jerry.
Jerry Quijano [00:01:49] So, the main takeaway from this announcement yesterday by Superintendent Matias Segura is that more than 200 full-time educator salaries will be cut. Can you break that down for us? What does that look like across the campuses?
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:02:02] Yeah. Okay. So what I want to go back first to, to talk about what it means because the district is not talking about positions. They’re talking about what they call teacher allocations and allocation is the equivalent of a one full time education salary, educator salary. Sorry. No worries. So let’s, now that we have that clear, let’s talk about the numbers. It’s 215 and the way it’s broken down, it’s 85 for elementary schools, 51 for middle schools and 79 for high schools. Now, does this translate to 215 people getting laid off? Not necessarily. Why? Because the district still has to see what happens next year. First of all, enrollment. They don’t know where kids are going. We’re talking about vouchers. We’re taking about some schools closing. And so schools might look different next year, then there’s also some teachers who are retiring and might not come back and that opens positions. And there’s a lot of vacancies that they, right now that they’re open. And so they have to see how they Yeah, how things are going to shake out, but that they are cutting 250 allocations. So the money that they were going to give schools for 215 positions that is being cut for sure.
Jerry Quijano [00:03:12] Okay, so we’re talking about these allocations as just one of the ways that they’re trying to a slash this deficit. What other changes can we expect to see? I understand from your reporting that this is going to affect special education, bilingual programs as well. What else is going be impacted.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:03:26] Yes. First, sorry, I want to go back because I said for sure, but this is a preliminary budget. So not for sure. It’s for sure if they keep with this.
Jerry Quijano [00:03:33] With what they’re going with this current preview that they have put forth.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:03:37] So yes, they’re also going to affect the bilingual and special education stipends and also the sizes of classrooms. So let’s start there. Pre-K and kindergarten to second grade, they are not going to be affected to first grade. They’re not going to be effected because they can’t for state reasons. But second grade to fifth grade, we’ll see larger classes. So right now for second to fourth grade, the number of students per teacher is 22, it will go up to 24. And then fifth grade is currently at 25 students per teacher, it will up to 27. So if you have more students per teachers, then you have less teachers, right? And then for middle school, it’s gonna look a little bit differently. For middle school and high school, they will reduce the number of periods that teachers have to plan their lessons. So this is the time that teachers use to plan their lessons, were saying, some of them were saying they also use this time to like translate certain things, grading, sometimes talking to parents, talking to other teachers. So those spirits are gonna go down and not for all educators, just for some. So if teachers teach what they call the foundational courses, which is English, social sciences, math, then they won’t be affected. But teachers who teach, I don’t know, fine arts or music. Other things, then they will be affected. And finally, when it comes to stipends, special education and bilingual educators will also be impacted. The system created a new tiered system and Segura said yesterday morning that educators that are not in the classroom will not see a decrease in stipends but teachers are saying otherwise or educators, I should use that word instead of teachers, are saying, otherwise.
Jerry Quijano [00:05:24] Okay, so there was a board meeting last night that you attended, you got to hear from some people. Let’s start with teachers and parents, what did they have to say?
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:05:31] Yeah, so yesterday there was a lot of people at the board meeting. It was mostly teachers, Education Austin, the teacher union. There was a lot of teachers from Education Austin there. And they raised a lot of concerns about the cuts to planning time and also the bilingual and special education stipends, of course. They said that the district special education program was just released from state oversight. That was a couple of months ago. And so they said that according to the list, The specialists who interact with students are gonna see cuts to the stipends and they worry that this will translate in the district going under state oversight once more. Bree Rolfe was there and she talked about this.
Bree Rolfe [00:06:13] Cutting planning time is a riff. If cuts are necessary, they should begin at the highest pay levels. Cutting $4,000 from the lowest earners is not the same as cutting a $7,000 travel stipend for an executive director. Cutting one teacher will affect students immediately and directly.
Jerry Quijano [00:06:34] Okay, so that was one side. How did the board respond? What did they have to say?
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:06:37] Yeah, so members of the board were critical of some of the decisions and also some of language used, like using non-foundational, which is, by the way, language that state has. So district officials were very clear on that. But at some point, the president of the Board, Lynn Boswell, asked the district officials to stop saying changes to staff. And she said, let’s just call it what it is. It’s staff cuts, because she said that’s what we’re looking at and our community deserves that respect. But also, other members said that cutting the planning time would push teachers out of the district, that it was too much pressure on them. So let’s hear Trustee Katherine Whitley-Shoo, who said that the change would, quote, devastate the system.
Katherine Whitley-Shoo [00:07:21] Like watering down the formula for my babysitter. It is unacceptable. So this is going to result in much poorer working conditions, and for those who hold the line and try to keep their sanity, it’s going to results in poor performance.
Jerry Quijano [00:07:41] Okay, AustinIC has said that they are still working on finding more cuts to shore up that $181 million budget deficit. And of course, QUT’s education reporter, Greta Diaz-Gonzalez-Vasquez, will continue to follow those updates. Greta, thank you for your time.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:07:54] Thank you, Jerry.
Jerry Quijano [00:08:02] The city of Austin has OK’d nearly a million dollars in taxpayer money toward a lawsuit that alleges city and state police raided the wrong home in South Austin back in 2023. As QUT’s Andrew Weber reports, the case has highlighted the city’s spending on outside lawyers to handle its litigation.
Andrew Weber [00:08:20] Glenn and Mindy Shields’ home was raided by DPS troopers in August of 2023. Austin police thought a suspect had holed up in their home. They called state police and they used explosive devices to breach their home, holding them at gunpoint and detaining them for hours. All told, their home sustained $23,000 in damage. They sued the city and were nearing a settlement in March when the city council a contract, $609,000 for private attorneys to continue litigating the case in court. That didn’t sit well with Councilmember Mike Siegel.
Mike Siegel [00:08:52] I don’t think the status quo is acceptable. I don’t think council should be authorizing hundreds of thousands of
Andrew Weber [00:08:58] dollars for work that probably could be done internally for less.” And Siegel is in a unique position. He used to be an attorney for the city. Siegel says Austin, like any city, has to handle a whole lot of litigation. Everything from negotiating rates for Austin Energy to HR and benefits to land acquisition to lawsuits against the city’s police force. Austin has spent more than $35 million on legal services and attorney fees since 2020, according to a KUT News analysis of city contract data. And a lot of the time, cases like the Shields, the family whose home was raided, get dragged out in court, says Austin attorney Scott Hendler.
Scott Hendler [00:09:35] These will outside lawyers have no incentive to resolve these cases early when they can bill against these allocated budgets of $800,000 to earn fees for their law firm. And it’s all it’s doing is shortchanging the city who then at the end of the day is going to have to settle these cases and pay hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars.
Andrew Weber [00:09:58] In the past five years, the city has paid out more than $48 million in settlements, according to KUT’s analysis. And this week, the City okayed an offer of $350,000 to the Shield family, on top of the potential $609,000 for private lawyers handling that case. City staff have said third-party attorneys are necessary because of staffing shortages. Councilmember Mike Siegel pushed back on that, saying the city has only hired two additional employees at the city attorney’s office over the last two years. Siegel says another glaring issue here is salaries. Back when he worked as a city attorney, his friends working at private firms would make two, three times his salary. Siegel wants to push for new positions with more competitive salaries to ultimately save money and bring things in house.
Mike Siegel [00:10:42] And so that’s what I’m exploring right now with the city attorney is how to avoid these situations where we’re spending $500,000 or a million dollars or more on outside contracts when we could find committed civil servants to do that work in house.
Andrew Weber [00:10:58] As Austin continues to grapple with a shortfall ahead of budget season, Siegel hopes his proposal could save crucial money and close cases against the city more efficiently and fairly for all parties. I’m Andrew Weber in Austin.
Jerry Quijano [00:11:14] Three young brothers here in Texas who play mariachi music were detained by ICE back in February as part of President Trump’s immigration crackdown. The brothers got out two weeks later, and country music superstar KC Musgraves heard their story and invited the boys on the Texas leg of her new tour. NPR’s immigration correspondent Sergio Martinez Beltran was there, and he has their story.
Sergio Martinez Beltran [00:11:37] On stage at the historic Green Hall, Texas’ oldest continuously operating dance hall are Antonio Caleb and Joshua Gámez Cuellar. The brothers are wearing pristine black charrosuits with white and blue frolar embroidery and big red bow ties, the kind of outfits they wear while performing in National High School Mariachi Championships. About 800 people came to this iconic Central Texas venue to see one of country music superstar Kacey Mosgraves’ three sold out shows. The crowd, many wearing cowboy hats and boots, sings along with the brothers who are ages 18, 15 and 12. The boys are living a dream, shared by five generations of their musical family. For the last few nights, they’ve been the opening act for 8-time Grammy Award winner KC Musgraves.
Kacey Musgraves [00:12:29] More cowbell, please!
Sergio Martinez Beltran [00:12:35] Her latest album, Middle of Nowhere, just came out and celebrates Tejano influences in several tracks.
Kacey Musgraves [00:12:41] I think you really know somebody
Kacey Musgraves [00:12:51] from San Luis Potosi, Mexico, all the way to this historic stage at Green Hall. Their journey is just getting started.
Sergio Martinez Beltran [00:13:00] It’s a journey that three months ago seemed impossible. The family came to the US from Mexico in 2023 through a Biden era program called CBP-1 that allowed migrants to come to the U.S. Legally while their asylum claims were considered. Earlier this year, the brothers and their parents were detained by ICE agents after a required check-in.
Speaker 13 [00:13:19] I’ve never committed a crime, I’ve not had any reports in school.
Sergio Martinez Beltran [00:13:25] 18-Year-old Antonio, the eldest, says he’s never committed a crime. He says he hasn’t even gotten into any trouble at school. Yet in late February, Antonio was shackled and transported to a detention center in Texas. Because he is 18, he was separated from his family. His brothers and parents were sent to a different ICE facility. They spent 13 days in detention. Our family’s crime was to love each other, Antonio says, adding… I felt like we’re being punished for sacrificing everything for a better life. After bipartisan outcry from Texas politicians, the family was released. They’re now waiting for a new immigration court date. Kacey Musgraves saw the news and had her team reach out to the family. Joshua, the 12-year-old, says stepping on stage for the first time opening for Musgrave’s That’s beyond nerf racking.
Joshua [00:14:14] I almost ran out of air and I was going to fall backwards.
Sergio Martinez Beltran [00:14:18] I almost ran out of breath, I thought I was going to fall, Joshua says, but he and his brothers beat the nerves and carried on with their opening act, and even got to perform two songs with Musgraves herself.
Kacey Musgraves [00:14:41] Tonight, you’re witnessing five generations of heritage carried forward by three young musicians who are honoring the past. While creating something entirely of their own.
Sergio Martinez Beltran [00:14:56] The brothers say this opportunity is changing their lives. Now people stop them on the streets for photos. After facing the threat of deportation and fearing for their future, they are now excited about what lies ahead. Antonio wants to teach mariachi, Caleb wants to be a nurse while continuing to play music, and Joshua wants to finish 6th grade and join the renowned high school group Mariachi Oro in McAllen, Texas, where they live. 15-Year-old Kaleb says the brothers are grateful for the opportunity.
Caleb [00:15:25] No, the truth is that I got the experience of…
Sergio Martinez Beltran [00:15:30] My takeaway from all of this is that I felt loved by more than 800 people, he says, a positive reminder of how much support the family has as they continue to fight for a chance to stay in the US. Sergio Martinez Beltran, NPR News, New Braunfels, Texas.
Jerry Quijano [00:15:52] We’ll be back after a break. This is Austin Signal. This is, Austin Signal, welcome back. This week in 1923, singer, songwriter, and national champion, Lady Fiddler Ruby Nell Almond was born here in Texas. Jason Mellard with the Center for Texas Music History at Texas State University, tells us how she went from bank teller to chart-topping country music artist.
Jon Mellard [00:16:23] This week in Texas Music History, let’s meet a national champion Lady Fiddler from North Texas. On May 2nd, 1923, country songwriter Ruby Nell Allmond was born in Fannin County. She hailed from a musical family, performing in church from the age of four and forming a band with her siblings in high school. She established herself as a distinctive player in North Texas and Oklahoma and soon joined The trio with fellow fiddlers, Georgia Slim Rutland and Gowdy Forest. Allman worked the family farm as her day job, while Rutland and Forrester held down a Dallas radio program as theirs. Allman listened closely to Rutland& Forresters’ daily show, and they’d advertise where she’d need to show up later that evening to play. In 1948, Allman won the title National Champion Lady Fiddler at a contest in Greenville and expanded her horizons with a new, fuller band. By 1950, this group would garner greater visibility, campaigning for U.S. House Speaker Sam Rayburn and appearing on the program Big D Jamboree. She still held a day job though as a bank teller in Bonham where she would work from 1956 to 1988. Ullman credited that job stability with freeing her up to focus on songwriting. Ullmann’s process was to compose songs in her head during her bank shift and then go to her neighbor Audra Brock’s house in the evening to record in a makeshift home studio. By 1968, Allman and Brock were confident enough in their work to strike out for Nashville, where they met with legendary Texas songwriter Cindy Walker. Walker saw something of her own unlikely career path in the pair and introduced them to folks at RCA. This launched a national career with regional roots, as the drive-thru teller from Bonham topped the charts with songs she wrote for Dottie West in 1968, Reno, Stu Phillips in 1969, Speak Softly My Love, and Ferlin Husky in 1971. I mustn’t pass this way again. From those chart-topping years on, Ullman worked at the bank, wrote her songs, fiddled around North Texas, and made a twice-yearly business pilgrimage to Nashville to renew contracts and loyalty agreements. Her two albums came only posthumously. Today, I’ll Think About the Rain and A Little Home Cooking, a fitting capstone to a unique country career. You can hear music from the Lone Star State 24-7 on the Texas Music Experience at TMX.fm.
Jerry Quijano [00:18:51] Let’s talk a little music here on Austin Signal. Austin Psych Fest is back in town this weekend and here to tell us about some of the acts you might wanna catch is Ryan Wen. He is a producer and host over at our sister station KUTX. Ryan, welcome back. Hey Jerry, thanks for having me. Of course, we had a blast with you last week and so we wanted to dig into this weekend’s lineup. So let’s start with tonight. Friday’s kicking off the Psych Fest. Who are you looking out for?
Ryan Wen [00:19:16] Man, there are so many great acts. And if you want to keep it in Austin, the first two acts that are kicking off the fest, I’ll call this first part maybe like the dance punk section of Psych Fest. Okay, I wasn’t expecting that. Who is it? So Jacuzzi is the first band that’s kicking off and they are so much fun live. I mean, I recommend listening to the recordings, but the whole experience can really only be like fully grasped through their live performance.
Jcuzzi [00:19:42] Come with some side effectors If you’re listening with me I know so, just like the good God intended
Ryan Wen [00:19:56] They were also ours the month last year. So if you want to go over to KTX.org, there’s some performance videos and more. And then following them is Almost Heaven, who also have this like early odds dance punk vibe, but more in like the vein of, you know, bands like The Rapture, stuff like that. It’s a very like 2005 house party kind of vibe. So it’s going to be, you put your dancing shoes on for the first phase of Psych Fest. And then of course, Friday night, the Flaming Lips are headlining as well, and they are legendary live. Actually, they played, the last time it was at Psych Fest was 2015, and Flaming Lips headlined that one as well as 13th Floor Elevators. Don’t particularly remember the flaming lip set. I was in my early 20s.
The Flaming Lips [00:20:37] I was there. I was there.
Jerry Quijano [00:20:40] Well, cool, yeah, Jacuzzi certainly stole the set, I think, at KUT Festival. Lots of people were talking about them to me after the fest. So let’s move on to Saturday. What’s happening then?
Ryan Wen [00:20:52] So Saturday is like, starts off with more of the punk psych kinds of vibe. You know, everything obviously, Austin Psych Fest, so it’s gonna be a psych tint to everything. But once again, it kicks off with some amazing Austin bands. The first band, I really, really like this band. They’re one of my favorite upcoming Austin bands, they’re called Commercial Breaks. And they have this, they kind of sound like Big Star or The Birds, the Power Pop Revival kind of sounds. So like great pop sensibility. But then have like the guided by voices, lo-fi fuzzy sound. So it’s like equal parts, catchy and super fuzzy and washed out. So really great. They have incredible sound, highly recommend checking them out. And then at a five grocery bag is playing and they kind of sound like if a, if the drag or a punk band, they probably sound like grocery bag.
Grocery Bag [00:21:41] Got a devil in my pocket It’s been running for five days now Feel the pressure, I’m on fire
Ryan Wen [00:21:57] It’s like the chaos of the drag during, you know, schools and session and everything. But you know through the lens of like a DIY punk space sounds, they, you know, obviously they, a lot of them played in DIY spaces around West campus. And they’re just a lot of fun. They’re going to be in Studio 1A next month as well. So they have an opportunity to check out that.
Jerry Quijano [00:22:15] Remind me of the name?
Ryan Wen [00:22:16] Grocery bag grocery bag commercial breaks in grocery bag are the two bands. I recommend you can understand why I was a little lost there
Jerry Quijano [00:22:21] You can understand why I was a little lost there. But I heard Grocery Bag this week on KUTX and they were awesome and I had never heard them before and I think as you said, the drag in a van is kind of like the perfect description. They had this great energy that was coming through on the radio so I can only imagine live it’s going to be even better. Okay, Orion and then lots of great acts obviously in the first two days of the fest. So what is the finale? What are you looking forward to?
Ryan Wen [00:22:45] So this, so Sunday is going to kick off more with the Latin American world of psych rock and our psychedelic music generally. And none other than Adrian Quesada will be kicking off the Sunday lineup and it’s going to be a DJ set, but don’t let that, you know, make it so like, Oh, you, I don’t have to see this. Adrian Queada is one of the greatest DJs, not just in Austin, but like anywhere and he even does like exclusive one-off dub plates of his own remixes. Like dub plates are like. It’s like an old school style of vinyl cutting that like a dance hall and reggae DJs used to do. So he does his own dub plates. He played one on his mic KTX a couple of weeks ago of this Erika Badu remix that he did at Cumbia. Erika bad do remix. It is so cool. And like, you know, it’s apparently he says that that Ms. Badu herself has approved of it. So I’ll probably plan stuff like that. Incredible DJ. You know, he’s a huge crate digger. So you’re going to hear things you’ve never heard before. That’s at two 35 on Sunday. And then Mani Chicha follows that. Mani chicha, you know, the chicha is this, you know psychedelic kumbia sound. Money Cheech is one of the bands that kind of brought that sound to Austin. It’s one that began in like the late 60s, early 70s, but you know, they’ve updated it and brought it into the 21st century. And man, that’s going to be incredible. Como Las Movies is playing too with kind of like a cumbia pop group. And then These Sacred Souls are closing out that night and they’re a Dapton Records soul group and just a wonderful way to just put a bow on top of the whole festival.
Jerry Quijano [00:24:29] Absolutely, should be a great time out there. You can find out more about Austin Psych Fest in the events section of KUTX.org. That is Ryan Nguyen. He is a producer and host at KUTx. Ryan, thank you. Thanks, Jerry. And that is it for today’s show. There’s more in the podcast show notes and at Kut.org slash signal. Our team is Rayna Sevilla, Alexandra Hart, Kristen Cabrera, and I’m your host Jerry Quijano. Have a beautiful weekend.
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
