Education

Update (10:30 pm): The Greater Austin Chamber has released its response to tonight's vote. The Chamber says it's excited about the technology upgrades being provided by the passage of bonds 1 and 3. While lamenting that Prop 2 lost by about 200 votes saying, "we should remember that only 7.2% of registered voters cast a ballot. Those who thought someone else would solve this problem were mistaken. Every vote matters."

Update (10:20 pm): With all votes counted, AISD only won 2 of the 4 bond propositions on the ballot today.

Winners:

Prop 1: $140 million for Health, Environment, Equipment and Technology
Prop 3: $350 million for Academic and Building Infrastructure Renovations

Losers:
Prop 2: $234 million for Safety and Security and Relief from Overcrowding
Prop 4: $169 million for Academic Initiatives, Fine Arts and Athletics

Polls are now open across Austin for AISD's $892 million dollar bond election. 

Registered voters can vote with a voter registration card, driver’s license or official photo ID, birth certificate, United States citizenship papers or passport, or a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, or other official document that shows the name and address of the voter. There are many voting locations across Austin.

The bond is separated into four propositions. Each prop would use that money for different projects -everything from basic repairs to constructing new schools. 

College is a time for classes, house parties and questionable dorm food. But as some students at UT and across the country are demonstrating, it’s also a time for activism.

Journalist and activist Bill McKibben and his environmentally-minded group 350.org are promoting a “Fossil Free Divestment Movement” to encourage American universities to withdraw their stock holdings from the top 200 coal, oil and gas companies. The group first gained notoriety when it held an International Day of Climate Action in 2009.

Saturday is the last chance to vote in the Austin school district’s bond election. It’s the district’s largest bond proposition ever: $892 million.

Austin residents will four propositions to vote on. The propositions divide the nearly package by topics and projects.

The first University of Texas medical student class could be here as early as fall 2016. The UT Board of Regents unanimously approved plans for the school at a meeting earlier today.

Though construction has not begun, UT President Bill Powers says he’s hopeful that the school will be ready by 2016 and the teaching hospital by 2017. Until then, UT has a laundry list of things to do. 

President Obama is visiting Manor New Tech High School, which has a STEM-based education program. But some experts question is there's too much emphasis on STEM.

Brenda Ramlow’s daughter Paige is a junior at Manor New Tech, the high school President Barack Obama is visiting this afternoon. She says her daughter is interested in a career in video graphics.