Austin ISD joint subcommittee outlines priorities, plans asset mapping and subcommittees

AUSTIN — Members of the joint subcommittee of Austin ISD (AISD), the City of Austin and Travis County met in the AISD boardroom and used a facilitated brainstorming session to map shared priorities and agree on next steps for coordinated action.

The subcommittee, chaired by Austin ISD Board President Arthi Singh, identified workforce development, affordable housing (including employee housing), childcare and early education, mental-health diversion and resilience planning among the top topics the three governments could pursue together. Singh said the meeting was an opportunity “to reflect” on the subcommittee’s purpose and to be “super intentional” about how the three institutions pool resources or support each other.

The discussion followed a short exercise where members wrote topics on sticky notes and grouped them on a wall. Council Member Allison Alter (Austin City Council, District 10), one of the longest-serving participants in the forum, highlighted past successes the group attributed to earlier cooperation: aligning ARPA and other funds behind childcare, support for parent support specialists and community-school work.

Subcommittee members said the group’s comparative advantage is convening the three largest overlapping public institutions in the region and identifying opportunities to coordinate policy and funding. Alter said the county had just finalized a second round of ARPA allocations totalling $52,000,000 and the city previously committed about $11,000,000 of its ARPA funds to related needs; she described that work as arising in part from the subcommittee’s earlier childcare focus.

Participants agreed to three practical next steps: (1) produce an asset map cataloging current programs and funding across the three entities, (2) invite staff to assemble concise project plans that define objectives and measurable outcomes for candidate priorities, and (3) form smaller working subcommittees to carry work from concept to implementation. Trustee Tracy Zapata (AISD, District 2) urged members to join the specific subcommittee(s) they want to advance so the group moves beyond discussion to visible action.

Members flagged several cross-cutting themes that could be addressed through coordinated projects: aligning workforce-development pipelines with K–12 career and technical education and summer employment; co-locating childcare or family services in school or city facilities; coordinating resilience hubs and emergency preparedness; and pursuing sustainability projects, such as reclaimed-water (“purple pipe”) pilots and electric-vehicle charging infrastructure on public properties.

The group asked staff to compile the list of suggested topics and to return with a draft asset map that shows which entity currently invests in which programs, how funds are sourced, and where gaps exist. Members framed that exercise as the basis for deciding which issues the joint subcommittee should “own” as collaborative projects versus which issues should be handled through information-sharing and cross-referrals.

The meeting closed with procedural items: approval of the Feb. 17, 2023 minutes (motion by Commissioner Bridget Shea; second by Trustee Tracy Zapata; motion passed unanimously) and adjournment (motion by Commissioner Bridget Shea; second by Trustee Tracy Zapata; meeting adjourned).

Next steps: staff will distribute the compiled topic list and a template for project requests; the group will follow up by forming working subcommittees and returning to this forum for regular progress reports.