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The Austin Justice Coalition created a jingle—"No Confidence in You"—in service of its campaign to get Austin Police Department Chief Brian Manley to resign.
The Austin Justice Coalition is clearly frustrated with city leadership, which has not responded to its request to cut $100 million in funding from the Austin Police Department and remove Chief Brian Manley (or make him resign).
<p>Just a couple of months ago, both of these efforts had some traction after a public outcry against <a href="https://austonia.com/austins-protests-black-lives-matter" target="_blank">police use of force</a> during anti-police-brutality protests. They picked up more momentum when the <a href="https://communityimpact.com/austin/central-austin/public-safety/2020/06/30/pressure-builds-as-austin-city-council-members-question-city-managers-ability-to-bring-transformational-police-reform/" target="_blank">Austin City Council</a> unanimously approved a vote of no confidence in Manley and the leadership in June. </p><p>Then a week later the conversation was effectively shut down when City Manager Spencer Cronk told the city's public safety committee Manley is committed to change. Meanwhile, it looks likely that significant police budget cuts <a href="https://www.statesman.com/news/20200806/austin-city-council-willing-to-spread-police-cuts-over-full-year" target="_blank">will trickle out slowly,</a> and may or may not reach the level of AJC's requests.</p><p>So how do you light a fire under a stagnated issue? Write a jingle!</p><p>Today, AJC posted "No Confidence in You," a short, animated video and catchy little jingle posted on its social media channels.</p><p>The first two verses are:<br/></p><p><em>He looks the part, at least that's true/</em><em>With silver hair and eyes of blue</em></p><p><em>Saved Austin from the bomber/</em><em>Or that's what the TV said</em></p><p><em>But now he's the chief/</em><em>And hey that part's a pity</em></p><p><em>It didn't take long 'til most of the city/</em><em>Could tell Brian Manley was in over his head</em></p><p>At the end of the jingle, AJC directs viewers to <a href="https://austinjustice.org/fire-chief-manley/" target="_blank">sign a petition</a> calling for Manley to resign. </p><p>"It is with enormous frustration that the undersigned groups renew our demand - after weeks of protest and major changes unanimously passed by City Council - for new leadership at the top of Austin's public safety department, and in particular our demand that you sideline Chief Brian Manley."</p><p>As of Friday afternoon, more than 5,000 people had signed it. </p>
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(Capital Metro)
Rendering, Project Connect station
The Austin City Council on Friday unanimously approved a measure to add to the November ballot the massive $7.1B "Project Connect," a 20-year overhaul of Austin's transit system that would include a new light rail and "rapid bus" lines.
The council plans to add it to the ballot in a formal order next week, members said. Then it's up to voters to decide whether to approve it.
<p>Because of technical difficulties, Friday's virtual meeting, in which the council also created a governing body for implementing the plan should it pass, was not streamed online. But council members shared their news on Twitter in the wake of their vote.</p><p><br/></p><div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c822f3ff32285fa04c656dc173e18661" id="6b910"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-partner="rebelmouse" data-twitter-tweet-id="1291865801176354817"><div style="margin:1em 0">Project Connect is about building back better after COVID, its about transportation that works for everybody, its a… https://t.co/ap6C8V0jNj</div> — Ann Kitchen (@Ann Kitchen)<a href="https://twitter.com/D5Kitchen/statuses/1291865801176354817">1596839783.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Council members chose a scaled-down version of the plan due to economic uncertainty brought about <a href="https://austonia.com/transportation/project-connect-austin-coronavirus" target="_self">by the pandemic</a>. An earlier version, approved by council in June, would have cost $10 billion.<br/></p><p>Capital Metro <a href="https://austonia.com/transportation/project-connect-austin" target="_self">proposed $3 billion in cuts last month</a>, including the elimination of a light-rail line running from Austin Community College Highland to downtown and the shortening of another, which would span North Lamar and South Congress.</p><p>If approved by voters, the $7 billion plan will increase the city property tax rate by 8.5 cents. For the median homeowner, this means their annual property tax bill will be about $276 higher.</p><div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7c6efe35152108c346f393acf8db696e" id="65ae7"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-partner="rebelmouse" data-twitter-tweet-id="1291865503032659968"><div style="margin:1em 0">883 days ago I started at @capmetroatx with the board’s direction to develop a data driven community supported tran… https://t.co/Lp54EWrH1U</div> — Randy Clarke 😷 (@Randy Clarke 😷)<a href="https://twitter.com/CapMetroCEO/statuses/1291865503032659968">1596839712.0</a></blockquote></div><p>In addition to taxpayer dollars, CapMetro will still need to seek an additional $3.15 billion in funding - 45% of the total budget - from the federal government.<br/></p><p>Along with deciding which version they will add to November's ballot next week, council members and the CapMetro board also voted to create a governing body called the Austin Transportation Partnership that will oversee the implementation of the plan. </p><p>The ATP board will include representatives from City Council and the Capital Metro board as well as three community experts.</p><p><em>This story has been updated; Project Connect will be funded through a tax rate election, not a bond. </em><br/></p>
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The Austin Independent School Board delayed the school year to Sept. 8 in an early-Friday vote, giving teachers three more weeks to prepare for online learning and the community more time to see a drop in COVID-19 cases before students, faculty and staff return to the classroom.
<p>The first four weeks of classes will be virtual-only for most of the district's 80,100 students, with exceptions made for students who don't have access to the required technology, but the board also voted to ask the Texas Education Agency to allow up to four more - potentially delaying full access to the district's 130 campuses until early November.</p><p>If granted, the board stipulated, the waiver "would serve as a period where students who selected on-campus instruction may return to on-campus learning in phased-in smaller groups." Families were asked to choose between in-person or online, with the option for virtual-only students to switch to on-campus classes after the first grading period.</p><p>The <a href="https://www.facebook.com/austinisd/videos/3284478401646954" target="_blank">Thursday night virtual meeting</a> lasted more than six hours and drew hundreds of community members, teachers and staff who called in to comment, with the vote happening past 3 a.m. on Friday. </p><p>On its agenda documents for the meeting, the district cited "local health conditions," the need for teacher training and the fact that COVID-19 disproportionately affects the Hispanic community, represented by a third of teachers and more than half of the district's students.</p><p>The district said staff and faculty will see no reduction in pay and in most cases, no change in pay schedule. The last day of the school year was pushed to June 3, 2021.</p><p>On Monday, Education Austin, the union representing 3,000 AISD employees, <a href="https://austonia.com/austin-public-schools" target="_self">asked the district to consider pushing back the official first day of school,</a> which Gov. Greg Abbott said was within the rights of local districts, not health officials.</p><p>AISD posted <a href="https://go.boarddocs.com/tx/austinisd/Board.nsf/files/BS63YY0936A1/%24file/Attachment%203%20SY-2020-21-Attendance-and-Enrollment.pdf" target="_blank">this document</a> with frequently asked questions, updated July 30, about attendance, enrollment, class size and more during the upcoming school year.</p>
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(screenshots)
David Frost, 22, filmed Austin protester Justin Howell (left) being carried to medics after being shot in the head by an Austin police officer. Other officers then shot at the protesters as they approached, causing them to duck (right).
David Frost, 22, had never attended a protest before the Black Lives Matter demonstrations in May. Then the cell phone-wielding Austinite became a key player in a series of events that touched off major change in the Austin Police Department.
<p>When Austin police officers began using tear gas on screaming protestors to clear I-35 on May 30, Frost pulled out his phone and hit the record button.</p><p>"I wasn't originally going out there planning on filming," he said.</p><p>One video showed a group of protesters carrying Justin Howell's limp body to medics after an Austin police officer <a href="https://austonia.com/city/austin-protesters-injured-police" target="_self">shot the 20-year-old Texas State student in the head</a> with a "less lethal" round. </p><p>His 45-second clip on social media now has more than 10 million views. Outrage over the video, and similar ones on social media, led to a ban on less lethal rounds and tear gas at Austin protests. </p><p>"The importance of documenting this stuff is, like, nobody knew Justin's name for 48 hours," Frost said. </p><div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="807a3ffdd002f7ef45b346698745ff34" id="3c5c4"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-partner="rebelmouse" data-twitter-tweet-id="1267315908760010754"><div style="margin:1em 0">@arianalipkin https://t.co/ZGHtMpPj8B</div> — David Frost (@David Frost)<a href="https://twitter.com/DavidFr31601156/statuses/1267315908760010754">1590986632.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Amateur video footage has been critical to the Black Lives Matter movement since it gained national prominence in 2014 following the Ferguson unrest—and most recently in the death of George Floyd, which prompted protests around the world.<br/></p><p>Austin police have even recognized the amateur videographers as valuable, frequently calling on citizens to send in their footage to help—including in the cases of Howell and Brad Levi Ayala, 16, who suffered brain damage after being hit with a bean bag round that same weekend.</p><p>"I have been filming," Frost said. "And I have noticed a lot more people filming as well." </p><p>Local activists are using video footage not only to capture and post isolated incidents but also to record protests, rally support and investigate misconduct. </p><p>"I'm seeing new tactics as well as new platforms being deployed," said Professor Dhiraj Murthy, who researches social media activism at the University of Austin at Texas. </p><p>It fits into a broader trend of the public watching the police, he said, a practice known as "sousveillance." </p><p>"It's the idea that you can monitor how the police are treating people," he said. </p><p><strong>Crowdsourcing footage </strong></p><p>When Brendan Walsh, another newcomer to protests, saw video clips of the Austin protests in late May, he described it as "warfare on Austin citizens." </p><p>Walsh scoured the internet for clips showing Ayala being hit. His goal: To identify the officer who fired the weapon.</p><p>Reddit has a strict anti-doxxing policy, due to its users wrongly accusing <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/28/magazine/should-reddit-be-blamed-for-the-spreading-of-a-smear.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&" target="_blank">an innocent 22-year-old of being one of the Boston bombers</a>. So Walsh created the Instagram account @justice4ayala, where he posted updates on his investigation.</p><p> Last week, <a href="https://www.texasmonthly.com/news/brad-levi-ayala-shooter-identified-austin-police/" target="_blank">APD confirmed to Texas Monthly</a> what Walsh had already discovered: The officer's name was Nicholas Gebhart.</p><p>"There's a reason people are interested in my work," Walsh said. "They feel that this officer might not be held accountable."</p><p><br/></p><div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="436a5994c80f80e0d098092684e3ae15" id="57f28"><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-version="4" style=" background:#FFF; border:0;
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</div></blockquote></div><p><strong>Backlash</strong><br/></p><p>Murthy says the actions of these amateur investigators tend to incite those who believe they're vigilantes.</p><p>"There have been plenty of incidents where the people filming footage have had abuse online leveled at them and that has resulted in real threats against them," he said. </p><p>Walsh said some protesters have sent footage to him instead of APD because they fear officers will ask why they were searching through their social media accounts.</p><p>Hiram Gilberto Garcia, an independent journalist who interviewed Austin protester Garrett Foster on camera the night he was shot and killed by an Uber driver, has documented being arrested by APD and discouraged comments that "initiate disagreement or discord."</p><div class="rm-embed embed-media"><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="211" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FImHiram%2Fposts%2F160257025717637&width=500" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" width="500"></iframe></div><p>In spite of of that, however, Walsh hopes more people follow his lead, <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07/22/javier-ambler-michael-ramos-margaret-moore/" target="_blank">especially as official inquiries drag on</a>.<br/></p><p>"This only took me 25 to 30 hours by myself to get a significant amount of progress," he said. "And now it has pushed from something that was just kind of an online project to what I feel is real change."</p>
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(by Charlie L. Harper III)
No public camping referendum on November ballot for Austin, city rules.
A petition to reinstate Austin's ban on public camping—abolished a year ago in a widely-debated move by Austin City Council to address homelessness—does not have enough signatures to make it on the November ballot, Austin City Clerk Jannette Goodall ruled Wednesday.
<p>On July 21, the local nonprofit group <a href="http://saveaustinnow.com/" target="_blank">"Save Austin Now"</a> said they had collected 24,598 signatures—well over the 20,000 required to put their initiative on the ballot in November.<br/></p><p>In reviewing the petition, however, the city clerk said she discovered a number of issues.</p><p>Nearly a hundred signatures were removed because of requests from signers. The clerk's office also discovered that the petition contained two versions of the language being proposed in the ordinance, which led to 397 signatures being removed.</p><p>Of the remaining 24,201 signatures, the clerk's office used a random sample to verify the petition.</p><p>"Of the 6,051 submitted sample lines checked under the sampling method, 1,147 of the sample lines were disqualified on account of being duplicate signatures of registered voters who signed more than once (41), or for other reasons (1,106)," Goodall wrote.</p><p>Ultimately, the clerk estimates that there are 19,122 valid signatures on the petition, which is not enough to make the ballot.</p><p>"The probability that checking all 24,201 submitted signatures would find a total of at least 20,000 valid signatures is less than 3 in one billion," Goodall wrote.</p><p>The petition—and what would have been a November ballot vote had it been validated—called on the city to roll back the <a href="https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2019-10-18/austin-city-council-reinstates-partial-camping-ban/" target="_blank">year-old city ordinance</a> allowing camping in public spaces. The goal was to reinstate previous ordinances in place before the ban was lifted in June 2019—no panhandling at night, no public camping, no sitting or lying in public places.</p><p>Save Austin Now co-founders Cleo Petricek and Matt Mackowiak believe the clerk's office inappropriately threw out thousands of signed petitions.</p><p>"We are exploring several options available to us, including possible legal action," they said in a joint statement shared with Austonia. "This fight is not over."</p><p>Last summer, the Austin City Council abolished the city's ban on public sitting, panhandling, lying and camping after <a href="https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2019/06/council-postpones-vote-on-camping-panhandling-ordinance/" target="_blank">homeless advocates</a> said such bans criminalize people who live on the street, and trap them there by making them targets for police action and creating criminal records.</p><p>In October, the council revisited the issue and limited where camping was allowed, banning it from sidewalks, near houses, near the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless and other shelters, and outside businesses during operating hours, among other limits.</p><p>In <a href="https://austonia.com/poll-results-homeless-camping" target="_self">an Austonia poll</a> taken shortly after the group turned in their petition, the majority of respondents—nearly 80 percent—said they would vote to ban public camping.</p><div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3a58ff624bf188fa3986fb9e09bd968a" id="c6512"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-partner="rebelmouse" data-twitter-tweet-id="1283762901128536069"><div style="margin:1em 0">While the people that serve the unhoused praise the decriminalization of homelessness, the local Republican party &… https://t.co/skyhygVUsq</div> — Chris Harris (@Chris Harris)<a href="https://twitter.com/chrisharris101/statuses/1283762901128536069">1594907901.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p><em>This story has been updated to include a statement from Save Austin Now. </em></p>
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Austin Mayor Adler talks COVID, inequity, homelessness and policing in 'State of the City' address
05 August
(City of Austin)
Austin Mayor Steve Adler delivered his annual "State of the City" address Wednesday—virtually.
This story has been updated to include quotes from the mayor's speech.
Austin Mayor Steve Adler delivered his annual "State of the City" address Wednesday evening, in which he discussed the coronavirus pandemic, police funding, the local economy, homelessness, transit and equity issues.
<p>Usually delivered to a crowd at City Hall, tonight's address was—as are all things Council these days—virtual.</p><p>"This could have been a speech only about COVID-19," Adler said. Instead, much of his 25-page address focused on the opportunities presented in this moment. </p><p>"Perhaps only at times such as these, where our routines and inertia are so utterly disrupted, can we be freed and forced to dream and act big," he said. "So let's do big things. Let's end homelessness. Let's bring real mobility to Austin. Let's reimagine how we keep one another safe. Let's address race and do something about correcting centuries of injustice because it is the fundamental injustice that fuels so many others." </p><p>Below are some quotes, excerpted from a transcript shared in advance. </p><p><strong>On the coronavirus</strong> </p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"We all want the local economy—and our lives—back as we knew them. But the governor's decision to reopen before we had sufficient testing and tracing in place and before our numbers were low enough compounded the challenge. … Truth is, the virus was never gone. <a href="https://austonia.com/testing-asymptomatic-austin" target="_blank">It just hides</a>, waiting for us to invite it back into our lives." </p><p><strong>On the economy</strong></p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"Unemployment is at unimaginable levels. Businesses have shuttered - some temporarily and some lost forever. Many of our neighbors don't know how they're going to feed their families or whether they'll be evicted from their homes. Tenants struggle with rent; homeowners and landlords struggle with mortgage payments. Our hospitality and creative workers and industries, so great a part of our economy, are reeling. For many, it's already too late." </p><p><strong>On homelessness</strong> </p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"To the people <a href="https://austonia.com/austin-texas-homeless-petition" target="_blank">that signed on to the petition</a> because they were desperate for a solution for people experiencing homelessness, I want to say that I share your impatience. Having chosen this more just path, though, and having rejected the false promise of cosmetic fixes, our work is incomplete unless we follow through with the commitment to house the homeless. This will require us to do a better job of inclusively managing shared public spaces." </p><p><strong>On transit</strong> </p><p style="margin-left: 40px;">"Project Connect is <a href="https://austonia.com/transportation/project-connect-austin" target="_blank">a bold transit plan</a> for the just and accessible city we aspire to be. It certainly addresses traffic, but it will do so much more. … Project Connect will connect our entire city, creating new opportunity for Austinites, reducing our dependence on expensive personal vehicles, and save lives." </p><p><strong>On police funding</strong> </p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"I want to address police department leadership. … We need not only an openness to consider change but a keen desire to move past the status quo and to look at public safety more broadly than [ever,] mainly focusing on ensuring we're best equipped to deal with unsafe moments when they occur. We need more than just a willingness to accept change <a href="https://austonia.com/austin-city-council-police-policy" target="_blank">if it happens</a>; we need a champion for change at its best."</p><p><span></span>Want to read the whole speech? Here's the transcript. </p><p class="pdf-loader"><a class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="bdab21c224a6f214f9ee5a4066743481" href="https://roar-assets-auto.rbl.ms/documents/6988/SOTC 2020 FINAL.pdf">SOTC 2020 FINAL.pdf</a></p><p>Make it a game! Adler invited residents to use this bingo card to mark off every topic mentioned in the speech. Can you get to bingo? Share it on social media with #ATXSOTC.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6b0e4c3e305d794e5a8d90586202a727" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" id="99d54" type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzUzNzU2OC9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1Njg4NTY1NH0.wzAmDm1N9F0NflybdxcR9O5shzZ_8EsH-H8Dhs40ywM/img.png?width=980"/>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">(City of Austin)</small></p>
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Austin ISD considers delaying first day of school, extending virtual classes
The Austin Independent School Board is considering pushing back the first day of school to Sept. 8 and applying for eight weeks of virtual-only classes, citing "local health conditions" and the fact that COVID-19 disproportionately affects Hispanics, who represent a third of teachers and more than half of the district's students.
<p>The moves will be voted on in a special meeting called for 9 p.m. Thursday night. The meeting, which will be held virtually, will include a <a href="https://go.boarddocs.com/tx/austinisd/Board.nsf/Public" target="_blank">public comment portion</a> at 9:35 p.m. The vote will happen after the public comments. </p><p>The meeting agenda cites the following local health conditions:</p><ul class="ee-ul"><li>High COVID-19 numbers in Travis County (averaging 367 new cases per day in July 2020)</li><li>Current Austin Public Health Risk Guidance places Austin, Travis County in Stage 4</li><li>3-4 people of 1000 are estimated to be infected with a current multiplier of 3</li><li>COVID-19 disproportionately impacts the Hispanic population in the Austin-Travis County area. Some 34 percent of the Austin population is Hispanic, while 57 percent of hospitalizations are among Hispanic patients. Thirty-two percent of AISD staff and 56 percent of students identify as Hispanic, according to agenda documents. </li></ul><p>"This delay will allow for our community to adjust to the latest in-person requirements in the changing health conditions of our city with safety at the forefront of every decision," reads the agenda item on the vote. </p><p>In addition, AISD will limit in-person attendance for the first four weeks of school as already planned but vote Thursday on <a href="https://go.boarddocs.com/tx/austinisd/Board.nsf/Public" target="_blank">whether to ask the state for a waiver </a>to allow an additional four weeks, delaying full access to on-campus instruction through early November. </p><p>Students without access to technology will still be allowed in-person instruction, as per state guidelines, but full access by all students would be delayed if the board approves the action and the state allows it. </p><p>"In the event a board extends the initial four-week transition, at least some on campus instruction must be provided each day during the extended transition period," the agenda reads. </p><p>On Monday, Education Austin, the union representing 3,000 AISD employees, <a href="https://austonia.com/austin-public-schools" target="_self">asked the district to consider pushing back the official first day of school,</a> which Gov. Greg Abbott said was within the rights of local districts, not health officials. </p><p>AISD posted <a href="https://go.boarddocs.com/tx/austinisd/Board.nsf/files/BS63YY0936A1/%24file/Attachment%203%20SY-2020-21-Attendance-and-Enrollment.pdf" target="_blank">this document</a> with frequently asked questions, updated July 30, about attendance, enrollment, class size and more during the upcoming school year. </p><p><a href="https://go.boarddocs.com/tx/austinisd/Board.nsf/Public" target="_blank">Click here</a> to find out more and learn how to participate in the public comment portion of the meeting. </p>
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Gov. Greg Abbott stresses local school officials "know best" whether schools should reopen
04 August
Gov. Greg Abbott stresses local school officials "know best" whether schools should reopen
By Patrick Svitek, The Texas Tribune
Gov. Greg Abbott stressed Tuesday that only local school boards, not local governments, have the power to decide how to open schools this fall during the coronavirus pandemic.
<p>"The bottom line is the people who know best ... about that are the local school officials," <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2020/08/04/texas-greg-abbott-coronavirus-press-conference/" target="_blank">Abbott said during a news conference in San Antonio,</a> echoing a message he's been relaying in response to questions about the process.</p><p>Texas educators and parents have been confused about who has the power to keep school buildings closed. They have also been frustrated by conflicting messages from state and local leaders.</p><p>Abbott also said that in preparation for the new school year, the state has already distributed to schools more than 59 million masks, more than 24,000 thermometers, more than 565,000 gallons of hand sanitizer and more than 500,000 face shields. He promised schools "will have their [personal protective equipment] needs met at no cost" to them, with the state picking up the tab.</p><p>In general, he described the state's personal protective equipment levels as bountiful even as the state faces an "an even greater strain" on the supply due to the coming school reopenings and flu season.</p><p>Abbott and other state leaders have backed a legal opinion from Attorney General <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/directory/ken-paxton/" target="_blank">Ken Paxton</a> that prohibits local health authorities from issuing blanket school closures for all schools in their jurisdiction before the academic year begins. Local school boards can decide to keep schools closed to in-person learning for up to eight weeks, with the possibility to apply for waivers to remain shuttered beyond that timeframe.</p><p>Under the state's guidance, local health officials can only intervene if there is an outbreak once students return to campus, at which point they can temporarily shut down a school.</p><p>Abbott stressed Tuesday that the policy does not mean that local health authorities are cut out of the reopening process, saying local school boards are free to consult with the health experts.</p><p>"Nothing is stopping them from doing that, and they can fully adopt whatever strategy the local public health authority says," Abbott said.</p><p>The state's guidance has overruled orders from local health authorities to keep schools closed to in-person learning for certain periods. For example, Metro Health in Bexar County had ordered schools to remain virtual until Sept. 7.</p><p>As for the personal protective equipment for schools, the Texas State Teachers Association said it was not nearly enough.</p><p>"The governor's optics today on PPE is a drop in the bucket, compared to what will be needed if schools are forced to reopen before it's safe," the union's president, Ovidia Molina, said in a statement. "59.4 million masks are roughly 11 masks per student. That might get students through the first week of school."</p>
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