Community Unity: The city of Austin is launching its first-ever brand in an attempt to “enhance unity [and] cohesion” across city departments; the unified city logo will replace over 300 current logos of various city services. A city of Austin representative told KVUE that the brand, a collaboration of Austin-based TKO and international design firm Pentagram, took seven years and $1.1 million to complete. Austinites took to social media with their first impressions, calling it a “janitorial company logo” and “money laundering scheme.”
Bible-Centered Curriculum: 300+ Texas independent school districts have elected to use the Christian, Bible-centered curriculum Bluebonnet Learning, which the Texas Education Agency approved at the end of 2024, The Texas Tribune reports. The state is paying school districts a $60-per-student incentive if they use it. Despite needing the extra cash, Austin ISD isn’t opting in. “Our families don’t want it,” AISD Trustee Kathryn Whitley Chu said. “We want curriculum that allows all of our students to feel included and seen. We went with curriculum that is high quality and teaches what students need to know.”
New Chapter for Recycled Reads: Recycled Reads will lose its iconic Burnet Road store by early next year following significant city budget cuts, per the Austin Free Press. Resources including passport services will relocate to the Austin Public Library Yarborough Branch and the tool library will move to the Zaragoza Warehouse near the Cepeda Branch. The fate of community programming such as the bookstore’s free bike maintenance project is not clear, as are details on which libraries would sell used books.
Shut Down and Shut Up: UT employees are without elected representation after the UT System’s Board of Regents abolished the Faculty Senate, per the Statesman. The Board of Regents’ decision was made possible by Senate Bill 37, which looks to limit the size and power of faculty senates at public universities. According to the Austin American-Statesman, UT officials have said a replacement advisory group that would still allow faculty to have input is in the works, but have not described what it will look like…