🏀 The Spurs open their preseason at home against the Hawks Thursday.

🏡 A $565K Alamo Ranch-area home comes with paid-off solar panels and 0.7 acres.

🥯 A bagel shop is coming to Broadway this winter.

🗳️ SAISD's $600M bond heads to voters Nov. 3—the district is yet to declare which schools benefit.

🏫 Texas just asked lawmakers for $97B to fund K-12 schools over the next two years.

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🛫 San Antonio airport lands its largest-ever federal grant for airfield drainage

The FAA awarded San Antonio International Airport $43.25 million, the largest single Airport Improvement Program grant in the airport's history, to build a new underground stormwater system carrying runoff from the airfield and new terminal development area to Salado Creek.

🏛️ Schertz adopts FY27 budget, holds tax rate steady after hours of debate

Schertz City Council adopted its FY 2026-27 budget and set a no-new-revenue tax rate of $0.5296 per $100 valuation on a 4-3 vote, funding four new patrol officers and four dispatchers after extended debate over staffing and vacancy rates.

🗳️ SAISD still hasn't said which schools its $600M bond would fund, weeks from early voting

Voters decide Nov. 3 on a $600 million, three-proposition bond package plus a 3.17-cent VATRE that SAISD trustees placed on the ballot in August. As of Oct. 4, the district had not released a list of which schools the bond dollars would fund, citing a need for flexibility after complications with the 2020 bond.

🏫 Nine San Antonio-area school districts have tax elections on the Nov. 3 ballot

Nine local districts, including SAISD and Northside ISD, are asking voters to approve a VATRE, a vote that lets a district raise its tax rate above the state's cap for day-to-day operating costs. Early voting starts Oct. 19, and KSAT's voter explainer notes that a "yes" vote doesn't automatically mean a higher tax bill; the impact depends on how each district structures the rest of its rate.

🏛️ Texas Education Agency requests $97B to fund K-12 education initiatives in 2028-29

During a Sept. 29 State Board of Education hearing, Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath presented the agency's legislative appropriations request for $97.3 billion in K-12 education initiatives and staffing for the next budget cycle. The TEA is requesting approximately $49.6 billion for fiscal year 2027-28 and $47.7 billion for FY 2028-29 through the Foundation School Program, which provides base funding for schools across Texas.

During public testimony, some Texans advocated for increased funding, noting that last year lawmakers approved only a $55 increase to the basic allotment per student—bringing it to $6,215 from $6,160—which falls short of the roughly $1,300 increase requested by some school leaders. The request comes as Gov. Greg Abbott and legislative leaders directed most state agencies to reduce their budget requests. Read more. →

📘 TEA data: Texas districts using state-developed Bluebonnet curriculum saw slight STAAR gains

Texas school districts using the state-developed Bluebonnet Learning curriculum saw slightly better year-over-year achievement on STAAR tests in spring 2026. During the 2025-26 school year, 619 of Texas' roughly 1,200 public school districts opted to implement the state-developed math and reading materials.

Districts using the state-developed math materials saw student improvement that was 0.6 percentage points higher compared to other Texas districts. The TEA pointed to the Bluebonnet curriculum as "high-quality," calling the gains in student achievement a validation of the program.

However, Zeph Capo, president of the Texas American Federation of Teachers, disagreed that the academic gains provided evidence of the curriculum's effectiveness, saying it may take a few more years to determine whether the improvement represents a valid trend or simply an anomaly. Read more. →

See you Friday! ✌

The Rundown is curated by Marie Leonard and Erin Cobb at Community Impact. If you have any feedback for our team, hit reply to this email—we respond to all reader questions and comments.