- Coming up on "Austin InSight", how flight to charter schools is impacting education in central Texas.

And we'll meet a man who's helping the homeless, in part, through memes.

"Austin InSight" starts right now.

- [Narrator] Support for "Austin InSight" comes from Sally and James Gavin, and also from Daniel L. Skret.

(uptempo music) (uptempo music continues) - Hi there, and thanks for joining us.

I'm Laura Laughead.

It's a contradiction, for years, central Texas has been one of the fastest growing areas in the country, but even with more families moving here, some local school districts are seeing significant enrollment declines.

That means empty seats in schools.

In part two of a special report, "Austin InSight" data reporter, Meredith Roberts, compares enrollment at traditional neighborhood schools and charter schools.

(light music) - [Meredith] Fewer and fewer students are going to Austin, ISD, which means there isn't enough money in the school district.

- Three, and this is just the draft made right before 2:00 a.m.

- [Meredith] Late last year, the school board voted to close 10 schools.

- My department did do an analysis of some recent data for kids who have left Austin ISD, and it was really.

- [Meredith] Victoria O'Neal, the Executive Director of Campus and Family Engagement at AISD says there are several factors at play.

- Two thirds of them were actually like leaving the reach of Austin ISD.

And in that one third, it was a mix of virtual school, homeschool and charter school.

- [Meredith] But it's not just Austin.

In our first investigation, we found that public schools across central Texas are struggling with enrollment.

(light music) (feet shuffling) But one North Austin school is thriving.

- This is the most enrolled we've ever been.

- [Meredith] IDEA Parmer Park, a charter school situated in between Austin, Pflugerville and Manor School districts, attracts students and families from all over.

- So, 711 is our, or 10 or 11, is our highest number of students.

And as a campus, we are more enrolled than we were a year ago.

And the numbers bear out that we have more students, both literally and from a percentage standpoint, than we did a year ago.

- [Meredith] IDEA Public Schools is the largest charter school network in Texas with nearly 80,000 students enrolled across the state last school year.

IDEA had over 6,000 students enrolled at 10 schools in the Eastern Crescent of Austin.

Of the more than 50 charter schools in Austin, three have the most campuses, IDEA, KIPP Texas Public Schools and Harmony Public Schools.

KIPP declined an interview and Harmony didn't respond to our interview request.

According to data from the Texas Education Agency, over 15,000 students who lived within Austin ISD's boundaries attended charter schools last school year.

And nearly 26,000 students were enrolled in charter schools in Austin.

One parent and employee from IDEA Parmer Park says she felt that public schools didn't support her kids' education.

They were enrolled in Pflugerville ISD before she moved them to an IDEA campus.

- The reason why I left public school was because we really didn't get the attention we needed as a one-on-one.

My kids would need the support that we didn't get.

So I came to IDEA, started seeing the support.

My girls are passing with AB honor rolls, both of them are.

I even confessed that I did say I will never move my kids to a charter school, but then I made the decision to move them to a charter school and I see the difference.

- But what are charter schools and how are they different from traditional public schools?

- So you will have heard me say like traditional public schools because we do know that charter schools are also public schools, right?

Their charter is accepted by the state.

They are funded by the state.

There are some significant differences.

- [Meredith] Traditional public schools are housed in independent school districts, ISDs.

Every child belongs to a specific school within the district they live in.

This means that every kid can go to this school and no child is zoned to a charter school.

- So charter schools, they are supposed to follow very similar procedures as public schools.

Supposed to enroll the students that show up.

When charter schools are oversubscribed, they often have like lottery systems, so that they should not be allowed to discriminate.

- I think that's a wonderful opportunity, you know, to give the families, and for them to make their educated choice through our rigorous onboarding.

When we accept a family, we go through all of the expectations, not because we wanna scare you, we just wanna set you up to what life would look like if you accept coming to our campus.

- [Meredith] School choice affects education everywhere, independent school districts, charter schools, and now private school vouchers in the spring.

- I think everyone can see that it makes, you know, a little bit more of a competitive market and that is what really behooves us to communicate clearly and well like the benefits that being a part of Austin ISD, you know, can bring to families.

Yeah, I don't think I have anything more than that.

- Choices can depend on where you live.

Most charter schools within Austin city limits are in the east with a few in southwest Austin.

We also found that many of Austin's private schools are in the west.

- It's school choice, right?

And our families are choosing, and then what we're explaining to them is, one, you're gonna go to college to and through.

They make the decision whether their current school is offering that and then kind of vote with their feet, right?

But in West Austin, I don't think that those two things that I just laid out necessarily pull or the necessity is there.

(parents clapping) - The first thing I did when I looked at it was start looking at options outside of the school district.

I'm sorry, I know I'm breaking up.

- [Meredith] But DeMatthews says school choice can be confusing.

- Even the idea that parents have choice in this system is somewhat false.

The schools, both private schools and charter schools, have a degree of choice in who they select and who they keep.

But our public schools, based on where you live, must serve every child.

They cannot turn those children down.

(students chattering) - [Meredith] Each school district receives a majority of their funding from local property taxes with some federal and state funding.

Schools and school districts receive funding based on the amount of students who attend.

Charter schools, on the other hand, get the majority of their funding from the state.

- If you look, say at a district like Austin ISD, that has charter schools within its boundaries.

A charter school opens up in a neighborhood, parents may decide to take their child out of the traditional public school and into a charter school.

And so that leaves the public school with fewer students, but it doesn't really change the cost of operating that school.

So if two or three first graders, two or three second graders, two or three third graders, they leave that elementary school, you still need a teacher in that grade.

So the cost of educating children in that building doesn't change, but now the district has less money.

- This resource stretch applies to every aspect of budgeting for school districts, including distributing money for students that cost more to educate, like students with disabilities or those who might need special education services.

- I think that sometimes is a common misconception about charter schools, right, in accepting special needs students.

But all IDEA public schools actually accepts special education students.

And we are equipped with the right teachers and the right staff to look at those plans, provide those minutes, so that the student can be successful.

- But public schools tend to enroll students with disabilities at a higher rate than charters.

Research from the Texas Education Leadership Lab at UT Austin shows that there are consistent disparities between the percentage of students receiving special education services in traditional public schools and charter schools.

- It's more difficult for a general education teacher or a special education teacher to have a class where now a quarter of the students requires a really individualized in-depth educational program.

Before that might've only been 10%, right?

And so, that's workload.

Those are meetings, that's developing co-teaching plans, that's working with parents.

It's a lot of extra work and with less money, not the same money, not more money, with less money.

- [Meredith] Austin ISD is also under-enrolled and under-enrolled campuses like Dobie are more expensive to maintain.

(teacher and students talking indistinctly) Jose Carrasco is with Austin Voices for Youth and Education, working specifically with Dobie Middle School.

He says Dobie lost a 100 to a 120 students to charter schools this year.

- And we're a neighborhood school, we're a community school.

So we want all our students to come to Dobie.

- We are here to serve every student that lives within our boundaries.

And it is really important that there is an anchor in the community that, you know, the doors are open and we serve everybody.

- Go ahead and get started.

Your five minutes start.

- [Meredith] On the other hand, principal Nichols from IDEA Parmer Park, says they want the community to be more involved in their campus.

- In 18 years of charter schools, I haven't had many visitors.

I have families and I have folks from within IDEA who come to visit.

But that's a large statement, right?

Come in, and actually see what we're about.

- I feel like it has to do a lot with communication that we have with our students, holding accountable for everything that happens in the public schools.

That's why we're getting a lot of kids from public schools.

- Yeah, let's do it.

Girl Scouts, do you wanna be first?

- [Meredith] Carrasco says communication has definitely been a factor.

- We've been losing students to these charters that are in, you know, in these areas because they see the instability that we've caused.

There's a charter school right down the street that put up some huge banners, and you know what that banner says?

"You're welcomed here."

We're saying the same thing.

But they see all this kind of instability.

A lot of resources are not put into these schools.

So they know that they could target some of our families here.

- [Meredith] But everyone is starting to feel this instability.

KIPP Texas Public Schools announced that they'd be closing half of their campuses in Austin due to under enrollment.

In either case, experts say state funds are limited and are now being used to support multiple school systems.

- At the end of the day, we have a limited pool of money for education.

It's never enough.

It's definitely not enough in Texas 'cause the legislature hasn't adequately funded our schools.

And now we're creating a second system.

So even fast-growth districts are having to close schools.

And then on top of that, now we're gonna have another system with vouchers that's publicly funded that can take more students out.

So now we'll have three publicly-funded systems all playing by different rules, making it really hard for school districts to plan and make decisions.

(light music) - Meredith's deep dive into school enrollment data raises questions about school funding priorities and other issues.

But the problem is not unique to our area.

For a broader perspective, we spoke with Linda Jacobson, a senior writer at The 74, a leading national online publication focused on education.

Linda, thanks so much for joining us.

- Thanks for having me.

- Linda, reporting in The 74 suggests there's a national trend in declining public school enrollment, including in places with a lot of growth.

How does central Texas compare to other regions?

- I think that Texas is seeing the same trends that we've seen across the country, a combination of both declining birth rates and a growing competition for education.

You know, parents have more options post pandemic, and I think charter schools have definitely played a role in that.

I think it's the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools showed that over a six-year period, Texas was second only to California in enrollment growth in charter schools.

But now I know you've seen networks like KIPP, which is a large charter network across the country, you know, is closing some schools in the Austin area.

And that could mean that Texas is gonna see what California did, which was even a decline in charter growth.

- And you brought up charter schools, I wanna talk more about that in a second.

But first, you kind of highlighted some of the underlying causes, but what trends are you seeing in how school districts or states are addressing public school funding?

We've lost some public school funding here in Texas as enrollment continues to decline.

- For sure.

I think that the pandemic relief funds, the COVID relief funds really allowed school districts to postpone closures and layoffs for a while.

But that now, you know, some of that is catching up with them.

We've seen large districts around the country close, you know, upward of 20 schools, you know, and sometimes, it's a multi-year process, but you know, it can be controversial and dramatic and traumatic for families.

You know, we've seen that, and I'm sure, you know, actually where I live, the Atlanta public schools, they just voted to close about about 10.

We've seen other places like the Pittsburgh public schools that have decided to delay it even longer because of, again, largely, you know, opposition from the community.

- And now let's go back to an earlier point you brought up about the role of charter schools.

What are you hearing from educators about the impact on student performance from this competition with traditional public schools?

- I think the results on that question are pretty mixed from what I've seen.

There was some research from, I believe it was Florida a couple years ago, that showed there were increases, when you compared to district schools, there was increases in reading in the district schools compared to charters, but not so much in math.

There was also a decrease in absenteeism.

District schools are certainly aware of the competition and trying to, you know, retain families or attract families back to traditional schools.

But, you know, it's really mixed as far as sort of a one-to-one comparison, you know, academically.

- I know a lot of tough choices ahead for parents here in central Texas and beyond.

Linda Jacobson, senior writer with The 74.

Thank you so much for sharing your insights with us.

- Thank you for having me.

(uptempo music) - Can one person really make a difference?

In our next story from the Decibel community reporting team, you'll see clear evidence that the answer to that question is, yes.

Meet Jeff Larson, who's delivering hope to the homeless one step and one meme at a time.

- When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I do is get on my cell phone and I send about 200 people coffee memes.

(light music) It sounds weird, it's coffee memes, but it really is a big deal.

You wanna feed the camp today?

- Yeah.

- Should I give you a bunch?

- Yes, sir.

- Okay.

I send them to homeless people that I have the phone numbers of, helps me to keep in touch with them and where I can bring them food and, you know, clothing.

Are you in a camp?

People know that the door's open if they ever need a conversation.

Just making sure, I was gonna give you a jacket if you didn't, okay?

You stay safe, okay?

Stay warm.

(object clicks) (object rattles) (door slams) Get some canned food here.

My name is Jeff Larson and, you know, I'd go out and counsel and help the homeless.

(person chuckles) Now these are fresh, good sandwiches.

I have to do this on my disability pay, which isn't all that much.

Couple weeks.

Most of my food comes from Carol's Kindness and the food pantries.

- [Volunteer] So put boxes in there.

- And these are to be refrigerated?

- No.

- No?

- Carol started giving me the extra and that just blew up into an amazing thing.

(light music) We're gonna get this guy here.

How you going, buddy?

My name's Jeff.

Let me give you something.

A hoodie and a shirt.

God bless you, man.

So I bring 'em stuff there.

(light music) Is this your cart?

- Yeah.

- I'm gonna put a little food in here for you.

Okay?

- Yeah.

- How about some energy drinks?

And sit down and talk to 'em for a while.

How many people you got?

Just so I can put it on the paperwork.

But I think I enjoy it more than they do.

I don't know, I just love it.

(traffic humming) Hey, brother, how you doing man?

- [Homeless Person] How you doing?

- Good, God bless you.

Hey, Mark moved down here, right?

- Huh?

- Mark moved down here?

Every year.

If I give you one, will you feed him?

They change.

I mean, you know, the OGs go away and the new ones come in and they all get replaced.

But there's always about the same number, it seems like.

- [Person] I was just thinking I didn't wanna spend my money on tacos because I needed it for rent.

- There you go.

There you go.

- So thank you so much.

- Now you got dinner.

God bless you.

- God bless you.

- [Jeff] I hear a lot of COVID stories where families, they lost their house, mortgage payments.

They almost did trespassing on you?

- Criminal trespassing.

$1,000 bond.

- God bless you, man.

Be safe.

People out there who just don't know how to navigate through the court systems and they lose everything.

(traffic humming) When they're suffering from a mental health issue, a lot of times they just get pushed away and they end up on the streets.

They're trying to self-medicate and, you know, and they're drinking too much or they're doing all this, but they just need treatment.

- [Person] Is she gonna come back soon?

(somber music) (somber music continues) - When they go to prison or jail, you know, it's a difficult place for them.

And they, you know, there's no recovery happens in there.

Almost no recovery, but they do to get healthier 'cause they're not doing drugs and they get a little sleep.

They get some hygiene and they get the bathroom facilities, you know what I mean?

And they get a blanket.

But man, you know, they come out of there in survival mode and, you know, they go right back into the same old habits, and if you don't get treatment, you're not gonna recover from that kind of stuff.

And they need it.

Well, if you got room in your backpack, I'll load you up, man.

There's a lot of 'em and they talk to me about how I do it, you know, 'cause they really are just like me and I really am just like them.

God bless you, brother.

(somber music) See, a long time ago I got in a car accident, a head-on collision, you know, and I had a real traumatic brain injury.

You know, I really couldn't communicate well and families don't know how to handle mental health issues.

And so, they pushed the people with a mental health issue away 'cause they don't know how to deal with it.

(somber music) (door thuds) (somber music) My family, they pushed me away.

And then, so I started trying to medicate myself and, you know, that's when I got addicted to painkillers and alcohol and it was a bad path.

(somber music) Hey, what's up?

Hey, brother, food pantry, man.

You want some?

Well, I've had my rock bottom and that's why I've been clean and sober now for over 10 years.

But when I go out on the streets and I see the bottom that some people are living at and it affects me.

Are you okay on jackets, man?

Is this enough?

- [Homeless Person] Yeah, that's what I got.

- That's what you got?

You know, it helps me to feel confident in my recovery and be able to, you know, guide other people in their recovery.

It just, it works out well.

(light music) What was your name again?

- Joshua.

- Jeff.

Good to meet you, man.

God bless you.

People talk about homeless.

Yes, sir.

When they're not around them, they don't ever sit down with 'em and have a conversation with them.

They don't ever go shake their hand or give 'em a hug or say a prayer with 'em.

Give him some freedom, man.

Give him a break, he deserves a break, God.

Amen.

We love you.

And I get to do that daily.

My name is Jeff Larson and I would have to say my job title would be friend.

I would like to be a friend.

(light music) (uptempo music) (uptempo music continues) (uptempo music continues) (uptempo music continues) - Mr.

Larson is an incredible example of compassion and generosity for all of us and an important reminder as we begin 2026.

Thanks so much to senior multimedia journalist, Blair Waltman-Alexin, for that story.

And finally, before we go, we do have a brief update on a, let's just say unique local business that we first told you about back in the fall.

It's called Throne Science and it's a startup that makes a device that's a sort of Fitbit for your toilet.

No, really, it analyzes your waist to give you critical insights on your health.

So Throne Science is now in the running to be on Shark Tank.

The team tried out over the weekend and they'll find out if they make it in February.

We wish them the best of luck.

Well, that's our show.

Thank you so much for watching and catch up on full episodes of "Austin InSight" for free in the PBS app, or watch our individual stories on the Austin PBS YouTube channel.

We'll see you next time.

(uptempo music) (uptempo music continues) (uptempo music continues) - [Narrator] Support for "Austin InSight" comes from Sally and James Gavin, and also from Daniel L. Skret.

(upbeat music)