Education
BY ELLE BENT
Texas opts out of new summer food program Texas is one of 15 states that will not implement the new Summer Electronic Bene t Transfer Pro- gram, or Summer EBT, in which families receive $40 per eligible child monthly to supplement the cost of food during summer break. The gist Texas couldn’t successfully launch the program this year due to “current resource constraints at the state agencies, the level of e ort needed to implement a new program and the need for new appropriations from the Legislature," said Thomas Vazquez, Texas Health and Human Services Commission spokesperson. This includes a current strain on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, causing many eligible Texans to wait up to six months to receive bene ts. Summer EBT would have supplemented the already existing Summer Bene t Food Service
Former school serves as police training site A former Austin ISD school will tempo- rarily be used for school safety training for about 750 o cers from the AISD Police Department and Travis County Constables, o cials said. The background The site is the former Rosedale School, at 2117 W. 49th St., Austin which lacked ame- nities for Special Education students and closed in February 2022. What’s next District o cials will continue to discuss how to permanently repurpose the facility. One proposed idea includes a housing concept meant to prioritize AISD teachers, sta and families.
Put into perspective
20% of Texas children are food insecure
3.7% of Dripping Springs ISD students are eligible for free meals 37% of Austin ISD students are eligible for free meals
SOURCES: TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY, FEEDING TEXAS COMMUNITY IMPACT
program; which serves food to children and teenag- ers at no cost in designated sites. CEO of Feeding Texas, Celia Cole, said that the current program is challenging for many families because of the distance to those designated sites. Stay tuned The HHSC will continue to work with other stakeholders in order to implement the program at some point in the future in Texas, Vazquez said. Feeding Texas will also continue advocating for the implementation next summer, in 2025.
Chaplains won’t serve as DSISD school counselors
“We are not planning to make changes to any of the ways in which people volunteer in our schools, which means
Under district policies, chaplains could already volunteer in DSISD schools. The resolution trustees voted on, according to district documents, stated DSISD would continue to accept volunteer chaplains in accordance with volunteer policies. Mental health services will remain helmed by sta and professionals, not volunteers.
Dripping Springs ISD o cials voted Jan. 29 not to allow chaplains to serve as counselors. Two-minute impact Texas school boards were required to vote on implementing Senate Bill 763, a new law permitting the employment of chaplains as school counselors. Chaplains typically provide religious services outside of a church.
chaplains are still welcome to be a volunteer in our district, they just may not be serving
in a chaplaincy role,” HOLLY MORRIS KUENTZ, DRIPPING SPRINGS ISD SUPERINTENDENT
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