As Pflugerville ISD faces a projected $18.3 million budget shortfall in 2026-27, district officials are looking at ways to reduce current and future shortfalls by optimizing operations.

PfISD partnered with education consulting agency Civic Solutions Group last fall to create individual campus profiles, which were used to form 12 draft optimization scenarios. 

What are the options? Twelve optimization scenarios were proposed to address the shortfall and balance enrollment.

• Close four elementary schools and two middle schools

• Redesign Dearing Elementary as a high-performing choice option

• Rezone elementary schools east of Hwy. 130 and all high schools

• Explore new programming at Mott Elementary, Bohls MS and Cele MS

• Eight-period high school schedules

• Repurpose vacant facilities for alternative programming

Next steps: District officials will present updated recommendations based on the community feedback gathered at a May board meeting, where trustees will vote on which optimization scenarios to take.

If all 12 draft scenarios presented were implemented, changes would begin in the 2027-28 school year.

Pflugerville remains in a Stage 3 emergency water restriction due to a series of breaks in its water pipeline, but efforts are well underway to repair the line and elevate Lake Pflugerville levels. 

How we got here: Multiple breaks along Pflugerville's 30-inch raw water pipeline have disrupted the city’s raw water supply. The first pipeline break occurred in September with further breaks in November, January and March. Mayor Doug Weiss signed a disaster declaration on March 4, and the city entered into a stage 3 emergency water restriction. 

The update: As repairs continue, Lake Pflugerville's elevation was 631.18 feet as of April 12. The targeted elevation is 633 feet. 

What residents should know: Under Stage 3, water use is limited to indoor use only with the exception of watering foundations to prevent cracking. Restrictions indicate residents cannot use sprinklers or hoses to lawn, garden or pot plants; fill empty swimming pools; wash cars at home; or install new landscaping that requires watering. 

From an airport expansion in Austin to a med spa renovation in New Braunfels and more, here are five of the most expensive projects filed with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation in the Austin metro this week.

1. Austin Bergstrom-International Airport ($60 million): Following the closure of the airport's south terminal, construction will start this summer on a six-gate southern terminal called Concourse M.

2. Texas Realtors ($2 million): A full remodel of the existing 23,847-square-foot building’s second floor will begin in late spring, along with the addition of a second-floor terrace.

3. Georgetown Logistics Park ($8.6 million): Construction is underway on a 39,200-square-foot facility.

4. Adoration Med Spa ($704,000): A former residence is being converted into a med spa. Renovations include removing the back deck, replacing windows and updating doors.

5. Kung Fu Tea–Bastrop: The specialty tea shop will fill a 1,500-square-foot space in the Burleson Crossing East shopping center.

Electric car manufacturer Tesla will receive less of a tax rebate than initially expected from Travis County due to “partial noncompliance” with the performance-based agreement.

Since 2020, the county has promised Tesla millions in tax incentives to build Giga Texas—a 10-million-square-foot electric car manufacturing plant near Del Valle. At an April 7 meeting, the Travis County Commissioners Court voted to withhold 9% of funds allocated for 2020-22 after receiving “incomplete documentation” from Colorado River Project, a subsidiary company of Tesla, County Judge Andy Brown said.

"We have to continue to demand accountability in future compliance conversations," Commissioner Ann Howard said.

The overview: Under the agreement, Tesla would receive a 70% rebate on its maintenance and operations property taxes for the first $1.09 billion invested through Giga Texas. To receive these rebates, the company was required to create at least 5,001 new full-time jobs—50% of which must be filled by Travis County residents—among other requirements.

Tesla was projected to receive a $14.65 million rebate over 10 years, according to 2020 county estimates.

Texas retailers can resume selling smokable hemp products after a Travis County judge temporarily blocked some of the state’s sweeping new regulations on the hemp industry.

The background: On March 31, the state health department enacted rules changing how THC content is measured in consumable hemp, which industry experts said effectively outlawed most smokable hemp products.

The Texas Hemp Business Council, a federal hemp industry group, and several local hemp companies sued the state April 8, arguing that the state health department does not have the authority to reclassify legal THC levels. State officials have defended the rules, saying they are in line with a September executive order by Gov. Greg Abbott, who at the time called for stricter oversight of the multibillion-dollar hemp industry.

The latest: Travis County District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble sided with the hemp industry in an April 10 ruling, directing the state not to enforce the new THC testing requirement and a restriction on the transportation of hemp products between states. An additional hearing is scheduled for April 23.