Austin will keep paying up to $100,000 a year for reading tutoring in Austin ISD elementary schools, but the district now has to make it available to at least 200 students each year, down from the 300 required since 2021.
Austin City Council approved the agreement Nov. 5, according to a Parks and Recreation staff presentation. The agreement covers Literacy First tutoring for kindergartners through second graders.
The program never reached 300 students under the previous agreement, which expired Sept. 30, after serving between 151 and 198 each year from 2021-22 through 2025-26, Recreation District Manager Devon Farber told Community Impact.
Why the number dropped
Students have entered school with weaker reading skills since the COVID-19 pandemic and need more time to reach the program’s benchmarks, Farber said.
“As students remain in the program longer, tutors serve fewer students over the course of the year, reducing the total number of students served annually,” he said.
What's changing
The city previously chose which campuses received its funding, mostly in East Austin, Farber said. Last school year, those were Allison, Ortega, Sanchez and Zavala elementary schools, according to the presentation.
Now, city funding can support Literacy First at any AISD Title I campus, Farber said. AISD will choose which campuses receive it based on student need, and those campuses may change from year to year, he said. Title I schools receive federal funding for serving high shares of students from low-income families.
The city has funded Literacy First for about 20 years, according to council agenda documents, but its money covers only part of the program’s work in AISD, Farber said. This school year, the program is at 15 AISD Title I campuses, nine with AmeriCorps tutors and six with paraprofessional tutors, and expects to tutor about 650 students, he said.
How it works
AISD must submit a final report within 60 days after the program closes each year, according to the presentation. The city then pays once its contract manager confirms the program met its goals.
The agreement runs through Sept. 30, 2027 and could total up to $500,000 with four one-year renewals, according to the agenda documents.
In exchange, AISD waives facility rental fees for the city, provides transportation for students in city after-school programs and promotes city programs and jobs to students.
What parents should know
Students reading below grade level are identified each fall, according to a program profile. They get 30 minutes of one-on-one tutoring each school day, according to the University of Texas’ Charles A. Dana Center, which created the program.
At least 81% of students consistently tutored last school year finished the program reading at grade level or on track to do so, the agenda documents state.
Some context
The agreement comes as AISD could lose its elected school board after Burnet and Webb middle schools received a fifth straight failing rating, and as trustees weigh at least $60 million in cuts to the 2027-28 budget, Community Impact previously reported.
