The University Interscholastic League (UIL) recently announced the winner of the UIL Lone Star Cup, honoring the best overall athletic and academic programs in Texas. Bowie High School was one of the 12 winners in the UIL 5A category this year.

Austin School officials remind parents that it’s easy to sign up for free or reduced price meals — breakfast and lunch — for their children. Who is eligible?

The Texas Education Agency has informed Superintendent Meria Carstarphen that it has terminated the three-year assignment of a Management Team to “address longstanding academic performance issues at certain campuses,” and “to oversee the continued implementation of school improvement and/or reconstitution plans for multi-year AU campuses” within Austin Independent School District.

Austin School Superintendent Meria Carstarphen today met with Dr. Joaquin Delgado, executive vice president, 3M Electro and Communications Business in Austin, to thank him for 3M’s generous contribution of cutting- edge technology to Austin’s pre-engineering classrooms. This fall, 3M is making a cash donation of $131,560 to purchase technical equipment for pre-engineering programs at Akins, LBJ, Ann Richards and Eastside Green Tech high schools and to Bailey, Bedichek and Small middle schools.

Austin is among the nine U.S. cities that have been deemed ‘reform friendly’ for education, according to a study released today by the Fordham Institute. The other most reform friendly cities, which all earned grades of B along with Austin, were:

2010-2011 Budget & Tax Rate The Board of Trustees of the Austin Independent School District has approved a $716 million operating budget for 2010-2011. The District will also send another $128 million to the state, under the so-called “recapture” provisions of Texas school finance law.

As the new school year begins Monday, August 23, for approximately 86,200 students in the Austin Independent School District, the District welcomes 18 new principals at the following schools:

In July 2010 the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released recommendations and guidelines for schools to follow to help prevent, control, and treat head lice. The two public health agencies said “a child should not be restricted from school attendance because of lice, because head lice have low contagion within classrooms.”

Andrews Elementary School teacher Nancy Douglas was recently named as one of the state-level finalists in the 2010 Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST) program.

The Austin School District has begun to implement $11.25 million in Texas Title I School Improvement Grants (SIG) for Reagan and Travis High schools, the only two of the 14 campuses that applied to receive the funding. The grants provide funding of up to $5.25 million over a three-year period at Reagan, and $6 million over a three-year period to Travis.

Austin school bus drivers will begin practice runs throughout the city on Thursday, August 12. Approximately 400 bus drivers will continue to fine-tune routes throughout the following week, which will allow Austin motorists time to practice observation of bus safety tips, and take notice of cell-phone-use-prohibited signs posted at campuses.

Bryker Woods Elementary School teacher Lorene Wallace was recently named as one of the state-level finalists in the 2010 Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST) program.

Austin School District’s Annual Back-to-School Bash and Safety Fair will kick off the 2010-2011 academic year on Saturday, August 14, at the Austin Convention Center, Exhibit Hall 2, located at 500 East Cesar Chavez Street. The Fair will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.