Hundreds of private schools in Texas
are being shut out of the state's
new school voucher program because
of alleged ties to some
organizations or foreign
governments.
And that includes dozens of schools
here in the Austin area.
We'll have more about the voucher
program and its continuing rollout.
That's coming up on today's show.
The Austin Signal is a production
of KUT News, hosted by
Jerry Quijano.
Plus, hobbies can lead to rewarding
experiences, but carving out
the time to invest in one can be
tough. We're going to hear the story
of a group of skaters here in Austin
that prioritizes community and
fun despite their busy schedules.
And the executive director for Texas
Performing Arts stepped into the
role just months before the pandemic
forced shows to stop and theaters to
close.
What he's learned about the job and
the future of arts and performances
going forward, That's coming
up today on Austin Signal.
Howdy out there, and thank you for
tuning in. This is Austin
Signal.
It's Tuesday, January 20th.
Thank you for making
listener-powered public radio part
of your day.
We are glad to have you here.
56 degrees out along the
drag at one o'clock this afternoon,
and a bit of good news to start off
the show is that temperatures the
next couple of nights in Austin
won't be nearly as cold as they
have been.
We are, however, keeping an eye on
the weather that's coming our way
this weekend.
What we know for now, is
that we are getting the coldest air
of the season on Saturday and
Sunday.
The National Weather Service is
forecasting highs in the 30s and
lows in the 20s.
And with precipitation in the
forecast at the same time, the
Weather Service says there's a
chance for freezing rain Saturday
into Saturday night.
We will of course be watching the
forecast as it develops in the days
ahead and we'll keep you updated
right here on Austin Signal and
all day long over on
KUT News.
Hundreds of private schools in Texas
have so far been excluded
from the state's new school voucher
program, including dozens of schools
here in the Austin area.
For more about why that is the case,
we are joined by Isaac Yu.
He's a politics reporter at the
Austin American Statesman.
Isaac, it's great to talk with you.
Thanks for having me.
So take us back a bit.
What reason did legislators give for
vouchers when they were initially
passed into law last year.
That's right. So this was the
biggest political issue of the
last session, the 89th session.
And the idea of the
Republican proponents who wanted to
pass this legislation was to
provide more tax dollars
to families who want to
afford things like private school
tuition, homeschooling costs,
just educational expenses that fall
outside of the traditional public
school system.
Okay, and you're reporting at the
statesman, you found out that not
all private schools here in Texas
have been able to join the voucher
program. Why is that the case?
That's right.
So schools were able to apply
beginning in mid-December.
So we now have a list of schools
that have been approved.
Um, if that school is on the list
and you receive a voucher, you
can use that money to pay, um,
for that tuition at that school,
there's a category of schools and it
makes up about a third, a little
more of all the eligible
private schools that had not yet
been invited into the program.
And what we know is that it's linked
to a request
that the state comptroller whose
office is running that program has
made also last month
and that's holding up all the
schools so far.
Us a little bit more about that.
Definitely.
So it appears to be linked to
an attempt by the
Comptroller to bar certain
schools. He asked for
a ruling from the Attorney General's
office, essentially asking
if his office has the
authority required to
bar a certain school under Texas
law.
And he's Referring to two
specific kinds of schools, one is
schools that are linked to the
Chinese Communist Party, either
because they're owned or operated in
part by some sort of entity that's
linked to it.
And then the other category is
schools, you know,
Islamic schools, not as an
entire category.
The way that his request is framed
is schools that have hosted
events by the council on
American Islamic relations, which is
a major Muslim advocacy
group.
And, you know asking whether
schools that have ties to that group
are also able to be barred from the
program.
You mentioned the state comptroller
a couple of times, can you tell us
who he is and how he got into the
position that he's in right now?
Definitely the state comptroller
currently is Kelly Hancock.
He's formerly a state Senator
from the North Texas area.
He became comptroller, um,
last June, um stepping down
from his legislative seat.
Um, and he's been, you
know, acting in that position.
Um, he wasn't formally appointed
due to some kind of quirkiness in
the state law, but he's running
that office since then, um and
overseeing the rollout of the
voucher and ESA program.
And yeah, he's been there since
June.
And what have you heard from people
who work for or work with Texas
private schools about
this claim that they're trying to
prohibit these schools from
participating in the program?
You know, not, not too many people
have spoken out specifically about
that. Of course, the schools
themselves are, you
know, facing a lot of uncertainty.
It's not super clear how many
of these Islamic schools or,
um, allegedly, um
Chinese linked schools want to
participate in the program, but the
comptroller's request said that some
of them had applied outside
of that. Remember that this, that
request has now blocked, you know,
between five and 700 schools
of all kinds.
So that includes.
Special education schools, Christian
schools, and those
groups and led by the
Texas Private School Association are
pushing the Comptroller to allow
those schools to be
approved for the program as quickly
as possible.
They aren't super happy
that this, you know,
request linked to the small handful
of schools appears to be affecting
a large category.
Okay, did was there any kind of
anticipation that there might be
some some some pitfalls
when it comes to this this voucher
program here in Texas.
There were some clues
early on that this could be
a problem, you know, there were some
conservative advocates who I've
spoken to who were against the
voucher program, who
there you know from their
perspective, they were worried that
tax dollars might be going towards
certain kinds of schools,
including Islamic schools, but you
know other schools that might
promote certain, you know,
LGBTQ.
Or DEI, things like that.
And that's one major argument that
conservative opponents of school
choice have had.
It's not one that was super
thoroughly considered.
It didn't come as a
big part of the debate in the
legislature.
But I think we knew early
on that that would be something that
state leaders would have to navigate
as they rolled out this program.
Specifically here in the Austin
area, what do we know about the
schools that have been impacted?
So the schools affected are all
accredited by Cognia, which is
a nonprofit. It's the largest
private school creditor nationwide
and here in Texas,
that accredits some of these Islamic
schools that are mentioned in the
Comptroller's Request, but
also a broad swath of
other schools as well, Christian
schools, all kinds of schools.
Some examples here in Austin include
the Ross& Sounder School,
Hyde Park Montessori, and.
You know, there's also an AI school
called the Alpha School that's been
getting attention here.
You know, it's a broad category and
they're all accredited by Cognia.
It's not clear whether all of them
want to apply for the program, we
don't know that, but we do know that
they have not been invited to do so.
OK, well, we've been speaking with
Isaac Yu. He is a reporter at
the Austin American Statesman.
You can find his reporting in
our show notes and at kut.org
slash signal. One last question
before I let you get out of here
today, Isaac.
Where do we go next?
What happens next?
So families will be able to apply
for this program starting on
February 4th.
That's two weeks from now.
And this list of schools is not
complete. We know that there are
schools that want to apply that have
not been approved for this list and
they're just waiting on, you know,
are we going to be accepted into
this program?
And they don't really know what to
tell their families at this point.
And so that's what we'll be watching
over the next couple of weeks.
All right, that's Isaac Yu, a
politics reporter at the Austin
American Statesman.
Thank you for coming on the show
today. Thank you.
Most of us lead busy lives,
and that can make it difficult to
find the time for our hobbies,
you know, the things we actually
like doing.
But a group of women in Austin with
a shared interest are taking that
challenge head on, one
kick push at a time.
Texas Standard's Keyla Holmes has
more.
It's the first Wednesday in
November, and several women are
walking over to a small patch of
concrete near a bike trail in East
Austin.
I actually skated here from my house
so wouldn't have been able to do
that four months ago and yeah.
Amanda Batchelor sets up near a
painted cloth banner that reads
Austin Women's Skate and a donation
box for diapers.
Batcheler has always wanted to
skate.
She started learning about six
months ago after searching for a
women's skateboard community on
Instagram.
She found the Austin Women Skate
group and now she's among the
dozens of women who meet up twice a
month to coast.
I feel like I just kind of fell in
love with it. In your late 20s, you
just have no idea how to make
friends.
Mental health and art therapist Brie
Valdez is one of three women who
started Austin women's skate.
This past summer, the trio would
grab their boards and meet at
Mueller Park for a cruise.
But eventually, they realized,
if they were enjoying their informal
skate meetups, others probably
would too.
We saw kind of like a need in the
community for
women's skaters and a space for
women skaters to feel really
supported.
Every first and third Wednesday,
the group takes a break from their
jobs and responsibilities to let
loose and skate with one another.
This audio is from two of the
group's recent meetups.
As soon as I get on the skateboard,
I stop thinking about anything else.
As members erupt into chatter
and laughter and place their diaper
donations into a box near the extra
skateboards, organizer Carolina
Montgomery gives a little pep talk.
Have fun, be safe,
be kind, and just remember this is
space for everyone.
At every meetup, everyone introduces
themselves and sometimes
answers an icebreaker.
This evening, the group shared what
they had for lunch, gripping their
boards, waiting to disperse.
I'm Chelsea.
I had green orzo
risotto with
blended broccoli.
Some women have knee pads and
helmets on.
Others just have the clothes on
their backs.
Organizer Carolina Montgomery likes
to wear gear because it helps her to
feel more confident.
As a skater in her early 40s,
she believes that skateboarding has
taught her to take more risks.
I think that it's made me brave,
to be able to take chances, to take
up space and to be okay taking
up space, even if I'm not
the best skater, or if I am just
a beginner, or I don't do tricks, or
I'm so scared, it's okay
to take space.
Herrera grew up watching her older
male cousins skate.
But as a girl growing up in the 90s,
she felt like there wasn't much
representation in the.
Not seeing anybody like
me doing skateboarding made
me really nervous, made me really
scared.
Herrera does her best to make time
to skate because for her
it's like she's finally free to
do what she's always wanted.
I played all the Tony Hawk games and
so like I said I watched videos I
read some of the magazines and
so it definitely felt like giving my
child self something
back.
After taking a group photo,
the women all placed their feet on
the tails of their boards,
found their balance, and pushed
themselves down the bike trail.
I'm Keyla Holmes for the Texas
Standard.
Great radio story they're full
of some awesome sounds and
you know listening to that story
made me think about the hobbies
I have here in Austin you know
going to watch movies climbing rocks
and doors everywhere I go
to try and find a hobby there's
always one constant somebody
in that building is wearing a KUT
or KUTX t-shirt so
I think you know listening to
listener powered public radio right
here on KUT news That is
a bit of a hobby and we have plenty
of people who partake and support
and we're glad you join us
every single day, but especially
right now here on Austin
Signal, this show is made possible
because of the work of the trusted
reporters and music aficionados
here at KUT News, KUTX,
and Texas Standard and we've got
more coming up from them for
you after this break.
This is Austin Signal.
Thank you for making us part of your
Tuesday.
Think back on what you were doing
right about now six years
ago.
Whatever you were up to, you likely
weren't considering how the COVID-19
pandemic would affect almost every
facet of your life.
Now, imagine starting a new job
in a new city with all
of that unfolding in the background.
Heck, here in Austin, I bet there's
a few of you out there who don't
even have to imagine much about that
scenario. It was certainly true
for Bob Bursey, the executive
and artistic director for Texas
Performing Arts.
They operate the Bass Concert Hall
and McCullough Theater.
He started his new job January
1st, 2020.
Needless to say, the pandemic
required Bursey to pivot from
some of the plans that he might've
had coming into the gig.
Bursey spoke with KUT's Jennifer
Stayton on the stage of the
McCulloch Theater about how COVID
impacted TPA back then and
what the future looks like for them.
And the arts going forward.
Taking the lead of a big
organization on the precipice of
a moment of great disruption really
set the tone for so
much of what we've been able to
accomplish since then.
When it became clear that we weren't
going to be able to do what we
normally could do or normally how we
serve our community, we tried to
find other things, other ways
to make an impact.
So we...
Did a renovation of the facility
that was bigger and deeper than what
would have otherwise been possible
and Bass Concert Hall made a lot of
improvements. It also gave us
an opportunity to look more locally
for the artists that we engage
with. So organizations like
ours were founded in
the middle of the last century on
the promise of bringing in the most
interesting things from around
the country and around the world.
And that's still core to what we do
and very important to us.
But for many organizations
like us.
Did that at the exclusion of
great artists and amazing projects
in your own backyard.
And so during COVID, we worked with
a lot of Austin-based artists to
provide creative residencies where
they could safely develop projects
in our studios and on our stages
that then went on to be
presented and performed around the
country later.
Is that something that has stayed
with Texas Performing Arts since
COVID days?
Yes, we've added that aspect
to our program as creative
development and residency for
Austin-based artists.
The pandemic also brought
into question many of the ways
that big organizations worked
and showed the value of partnership.
And that's something that stayed
with us as well
at TPA, that we
can accomplish ambitious things,
life-changing projects, impactful.
Educational initiatives when we work
together with other organizations.
How does the commercial viability
of an artist or arts
group coming to town sort
of balance with maybe artistic
experimentation or something new?
Do you have to go to sort of
something familiar that you know
will fill seats?
Or do you feel like you've got some
room to try something new or
experiment? How do you kind of make
that calculation?
We've been very intentional about
doing all of the above to
have things that will fill
Bass Concert Hall at 3,000 seats
night after night and also
to do things in a
rehearsal studio that maybe 12
people a night can see
over the course of a week.
We're one of the only places in the
country that's able to embrace that
huge wide range of programming
from artists that you have heard
of and are really familiar with
their work, popular entertainers
to major touring productions
to things that are just being
developed and are experimenting
and trying to get off the ground.
Because we have different size
spaces, because we're part of
an institution of research and
learning, we're able to embrace
all of those missions.
Texas Performing Arts operates
financially self-sustaining,
but is very much informed
by the values of
the University of Learning,
Research and Education.
So anytime you come to see a
performance here.
The artist may have gone and done a
master class with students
at UT, they may
have gone out and visited with a
local high school or elementary
or middle school, or there may be
students coming from the community
to that performance.
Can just talk a little bit about
what the arts can do for
people, especially maybe
when times are challenging in
a host of different ways.
I personally find it a source of
inspiration, and I love gathering
together with people in the
same space. Nothing makes me happier
than to see our lobby
just full of folks who are
all there because they want to
be, to have an experience
that they've chosen to have, that
they're going to be inspired,
entertained, engaged,
maybe challenged by.
That's certainly what motivates me
and keeps us going, and I
think it's a real source of
optimism.
Right now, that we get to see
artists who really represent
the idea of excellence,
that they have trained and
crafted for many, many years in
order to be able to present what
they do.
What do you see as the biggest
challenge for Texas Performing
Arts and maybe sort of
arts in general moving forward?
There is so much
choice out there now for
us as audience members.
We have essentially unlimited
access to digital content.
In our city, there's always so
much going on.
And making sure that we continue
to offer really singular,
memorable, sometimes
once-in-a-lifetime experiences
is a big priority for
us.
And keeping up with the
pace of change that tastes are
rapidly evolving
and folks' interests are very,
very wide now because we can
self-curate in a way
that we were never able to.
It's a challenge, it's also hopeful
because as life
is increasingly digital,
to have those moments of being in
real space, in real time,
together with fellow audience
members, sharing an experience
given to us by a performer.
Becomes I think even more special
right now.
So I see it both as a challenge and
as an opportunity.
Is there an especially memorable
show or performance that you've
experienced in your time here that
really stands out for you as
something that really struck you
or has stuck with you in
your times here so far?
Too many to name,
clearly. I'll offer a few.
One is anything that I get to see
with my family, especially with my
kids, and introduce them
to the American
cultural tradition.
We have so many art forms
that come from America,
be it jazz or modern
dance or Broadway.
To see a Broadway show with my kid
and introduce to that cultural
lineage is really special.
I also love the
experimental work that we get to
do. We did an extraordinary
project early in my time
here with a New York-based
artist called Robin Frohart,
a project called The Plastic Bag
Store where she transformed a
warehouse in Austin into
a museum of
incredible artifacts all
created with plastic bags.
And those kind of out of the
box.
Non-traditional projects are really,
really special to me.
Bob Bursey is executive and
artistic director of Texas
Performing Arts.
Bob, thank you so much for chatting
with me on the stage at the
McCullough Theater.
It's been great.
It's been great to have you,
Jennifer. Thank you so much.
And thank you out there for
tuning in on this Tuesday.
Glad you're spinning part of it here
with listener-powered public
radio.
We are KUT News 90.5
on the KUT app.
And we have more from our show
online at kut.org
slash signal.
And please, if you listen to the
show as a podcast, please subscribe,
leave a review, and check the show
notes for all the reporting that we
brought to you today and that we
bring to you every day.
Thank you to Keyla Holmes,
to Isaac Yu, and to Jennifer Stayton
and Bob Bursey with their help
making today's episode happen.
Kristen Cabrera is our managing
producer.
Rayna Sevilla is our technical
director. I'm Jerry Quijano.
Austin Signal will be back tomorrow,
and we'll talk to you then.
Have a great day.