BG Reads 6.17.2024

🗞️ Bingham Group Reads - June 17, 2024

June 17, 2024

Bingham Group Reads

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June 17, 2024

Today's BG Reads include:

🟣 Austin school board nears decision on budget and scorecard amid financial woes (CBS Austin)

🟣 Future of MACC takes shape as expansion work continues (Austin Monitor)

🟣 Texas Supreme Court affirms winter storm emergency pricing that cost Texans billions (Dallas Morning News)

🟣 Republicans and Democrats are trading places on turnout (New York Times)

Read On!

[BINGHAM GROUP]

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

Austin school board nears decision on budget and scorecard amid financial woes (CBS Austin)

The Austin Independent School District is one step closer to getting approval on its budget and scorecard.

The AISD Board of Trustees is meeting weekly this month to fine-tune these two major items, both of which will determine how AISD operates in the coming years.

AISD is currently facing a financial crisis. Last month, AISD held a briefing to address the larger-than-anticipated deficit that was presented during a work session May 9.

In that briefing, superintendent Matias Segura laid out a plan for the district in order to face a deficit that could spike up to nearly $90 million.

“Because of what the legislature and the governor insist on doing by holding funds hostage for vouchers, school districts across the state are struggling with their budgets and are in deficit budgets, and that’s what we have here in Austin,” said Ken Zarifis, president of Education Austin – the employees’ union for AISD.

Next week, the board is slated to vote on the final 2024-2025 budget. That budget may include up to a $60 million deficit... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Future of MACC takes shape as expansion work continues (Austin Monitor)

It felt reassuring for Lily Zamarripa-Saenz in April when she was able to tour the grounds of the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center and see the progress on the $27 million expansion she and other community members had been working toward for close to a decade. As a recent member of the MACC Advisory Board, Zamarripa-Saenz credits the work of former and more tenured board members for the progress leading up to an expected reopening of the facility in later 2025.

“It put things into perspective. We were able to see how much room the MACC will have to host events. Whether they’re small, medium or large, we have an idea that we are on track to and on scope or aligned with the scope of the community vision,” she said. “Right now the work is mostly underground but is almost complete. So hopefully within the next month, we will start to actually see construction and building for the north and the south wing, and then work done on the zócalo and things of that nature.”

Earlier this month, the advisory board received an update from project architects about some of the final designs for the project, which has faced some constraintsdue to inflation compared to what was envisioned prior to the Covid-19 pandemic…(LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

Texas Supreme Court affirms winter storm emergency pricing that cost Texans billions (Dallas Morning News)

Luminant, a subsidiary of Irving-based Vistra Corp., argued that Texas’ power grid regulator, the Public Utility Commission, exceeded its authority by ordering electricity prices pegged at $9,000 per-megawatt-hour. During the freeze and blackouts, which led to the deaths of more than 200 people, the commission ordered the price artificially set at the cap price for four days. Several companies and utilities went bankrupt after paying about 300 times more for electricity than is typical in Texas.

Luminant lost roughly $1 billion during the freeze, according to court documents. In the aftermath, every member of the Public Utility Commission and ERCOT’s leadership resigned or was fired. The commission has since lowered the cap to $5,000 per megawatt-hour. The court ruled 7-0 against Vistra, reversing a ruling from the Austin-based 3rd Court of Appeals, which said the emergency pricing order violated ERCOT’s state-mandated competitive market design. Supreme Court Justices Rebeca Huddle and Evan Young did not participate.

“The Commission has the expertise to manage the electric utility industry; the courts do not,” Chief Justice Nathan Hecht wrote in the ruling.

“The court of appeals thus strayed from its lane by inquiring whether the Orders could have used ‘competitive rather than regulatory methods’ to any greater extent than they did.” Vistra did not immediately respond to an email and phone message seeking comment. Texas electricity customers remain on the hook for sky-high electricity and natural gas prices paid during the winter storm.

Through government backed bonds, Texans will be paying off the 2021 winter storm energy bills for decades to come through a surcharge on their monthly utility bills. During the February 2021 freeze, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas saw cascading power plant failures, prompting the power grid’s operator to shut off power to 4.5 million households and businesses to prevent the grid from a catastrophic failure.

At its peak, 49% of the state’s power generating facilities were offline. At the time, ERCOT officials contacted the Public Utility Commission after they observed that power prices were hovering far below the cap…  (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Texas students’ STAAR scores decline in math and science (Texas Tribune)

State testing data released Friday shows students’ math and science scores slipped as they struggle to catch up after the pandemic.

Texas elementary students who took the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness exam this spring saw striking drops in science comprehension. Only 26% of fifth graders this year met science grade-level standards, or concepts students in that grade are expected to understand, a steep decline of 21 percentage points from 2019.

In math, Texas students lost ground after two years of modest post-pandemic gains. About 41% of students demonstrated an adequate understanding of math on their tests, with declines across grades compared to last year... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[US and World News]

Republicans and Democrats are trading places on turnout (New York Times)

In a reversal of one of the most familiar patterns in American politics, it appears that Donald J. Trump, not President Biden, would stand to gain if everyone in the country turned out and voted. In New York Times/Siena College polls over the last year, Mr. Biden holds a wide lead over Mr. Trump among regular primary and midterm voters, yet he trails among the rest of the electorate, giving Mr. Trump a lead among registered voters overall. The pattern is the latest example of how the Trump brand of conservative populism has transformed American politics.

His candidacy galvanized liberals to defend democracy and abortion rights, giving Democrats the edge in low-turnout special and midterm elections. Yet at the same time, early polls suggest, many less engaged and infrequent voters have grown deeply dissatisfied with Mr. Biden.

The disengaged voters do not necessarily like Mr. Trump, the polling shows. But they’re motivated by pocketbook issues, more desiring of fundamental changes to the political system, and far less concerned about democracy as an issue in the election. Many low-turnout voters — notably including many who consider themselves Democrats — now say they’ll back Mr. Trump. This unusual turnout dynamic is one of the central forces shaping the 2024 campaign.

It helps explain why recent polls and election results seem so divergent, and why Mr. Trump has gained among young and nonwhite voters, who are less likely to vote than older white voters. It creates a challenge for the campaigns, who are finding that time-tested strategies for mobilizing irregular voters may not work quite the same way as they did in the past.

With five months to go until the election, there’s still time for less engaged voters to tune in and swing back toward Mr. Biden. Many infrequent voters aren’t yet tuned into the race, and their preferences appear highly volatile. If the polls are right, they’ve swung 20 percentage points since 2020, but some changed their answers when re-interviewed in the wake of Mr. Trump’s felony conviction in New York. Even if Mr. Trump holds his edge among the disengaged, it’s not clear many of these low-turnout voters will ultimately show up to vote... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Uber and Lyft are fighting minimum wage laws. But in this state, the drivers won (NPR)

In a windowless room, Uber driver Farhan Badel took the podium in front of a committee of Minnesota state legislators in early May. As Badel leaned into the microphone and started speaking, the room quieted. Testifying before lawmakers was something he’d done nearly a dozen times before, but he says this time felt like his last chance.

“We’ve been fighting for two long years,” Badel stated, referencing ride-hail drivers’ battle to get a minimum wage law passed in the state. He said his message to lawmakers was this: "Uber and Lyft, especially Uber, notorious for their shady lobbying … should not be allowed to dictate what becomes law in this state.”

The lobbying Badel referenced is part of a playbook Uber and Lyft have used in cities across the country to curb minimum wage laws for drivers. The San Francisco-based companies have barraged lawmakers with emails, sent warning messages to riders and drivers, and threatened to vacate states if they were forced to pay minimum wage.

In Minnesota, the campaign was particularly aggressive. Interviews with drivers and lawmakers, along with internal emails and documents obtained by NPR, show that Minnesota was the target of an intense operation… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[2024 Austin City Council Race Watch]

This fall will see elections for the following Council Districts 2, 4, 6, 7, 10, and Mayor.

Declared candidates so far are:

Mayor

District 2

District 4

District 6

District 7 (Open seat)

District 10 (Open seat)

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