Central Texas District Spotlight: Austin ISD & Office of Innovation and Development

Shirley Heitzman, Executive Director of the Office of Innovation and Development for Austin Independent School District (AISD) was invited to contribute as a guest blogger to share highlights of February's CTEF meeting with Dr. Carstarphen. Heitzman leads AISD's partnership and resource development efforts to improve educational outcomes in a district of over 86,000 students.



Photo courtesy of AISD.

This last February, CTEF membership met with  Austin Independent School District’s Superintendent, Meria Carstarphen and Austin Corporate Investors Network members to discuss high interest topics including current successes and challenges in the District, as well as answer questions on topics of interest to the group. More information on the State of the District can be found here. 

Austin is an amazing city, topping the charts of the greatest place to live, run a business and to raise kids. How else can we become the top? We can be number one in education by increasing the number of students who graduate from our public schools through strengthening our student support systems and by increasing community support.



Image courtesy of AISD.



We all have a stake in public education. It is the most important investment that we can make as a community for the future health and prosperity of our city, state and nation. As a community, we need to determine the quality of education we demand for our kids. We need to ask ourselves whether we have the courage and community will to adequately invest in our school and in our children’s education for the future.



How can you contribute and invest in the future of our students and community to continue making Austin great and opportunities greater? Although AISD is currently on sound financial footing, the financial crisis in education remains and additional, tough cuts will have to be made in the coming years. AISD anticipates the need to secure an additional $30 million in private funding over the next three years to continue to provide new delivery models, improve the overall school and district climate for learning and develop academic achievement and support strategies for special populations through accelerated and differentiated instruction. AISD is humbly asking you to help support and fund these innovative strategies to increase student achievement in the areas such as the Arts, Pre-K, expanding Literacy, and High Dosage Tutoring.



While celebrating our diversity, AISD also embraces the challenges of providing excellent education to all of those students in our ever changing demographic. AISD wants to get operations, partnerships and innovations right for ALL of our students, so that AISD can be used as the standard against which urban public education are measured.

To learn more on how to strategically partner with AISD, visit The Office of Innovation and Development. Equally, visit AISD's webpage to learn more details on AISD programs. It is through vibrant, community collaborations that AISD is successful in preparing students for college, career and life.