On the record is brought to you by Steve and Adele Dufilho San Antonio is a fast growing, fast moving city with something new happening every day.

That's why each week we go on the record with Randy Beamer and the newsmakers who are driving this change.

Then we gather at the Reporters Roundtable to talk about the latest news stories with the journalist behind those stories.

Joining us now as we go on the Record with Randy Beamer.

Hi, everybody, and thank you for joining us for on the Record this week.

I'm Randy Beamer.

This week, we are going to talk about a number of issues, including a possible rate hike in your electricity, CPS, energy, also the possibility of some treated wastewater going into the waters off the Gulf Coast.

But first, we're going to start with an issue you have seen in the news a lot recently here in San Antonio, and that is the closure of a number of schools, many of them in the San Antonio Independent School District.

And the superintendent of that district, Jaime Aquino, joins us today.

Thank you very much for coming in.

First of all, this has been a very heated issue.

You've looked at this since July, actually.

And then this week the board voted to close more than hour.

I guess 15 schools merge six campuses into three.

Start with the basics.

Why is this absolutely necessary?

Well, thank you, Randi, for having me.

And I want to state that doe officially we embark on this journey in July when the board passed a resolution on June 28th.

You know, I've been here 18 months and I've been having this public conversation with my staff and community in every school that need to as to right size so that we can deliver on the on our promise of high quality education for all our students.

The major issue stems from the fact that we have about 100, 100 buildings and we have a loss in the last 20, 20 years, about 18 to 19000 students and kept the same number out of quality students you had before.

And what do you have now?

So we have about over 65,000 and now we're down to this year, 40, 44,000.

And the main reasons for that, the main reasons and I'm glad you asked, because there's a misconception that because of competition, we have lost a lot of students, too to charter.

But we had someone who did in landscape analysis and the primary reason is the declining birth rate.

We just don't have as many school age population like most districts across the country.

That's number one.

Second is the lack of affordable housing that is pushing our families away from the urban core of about the 20,000 students that we have lost.

Only 20% of them have gone to charter schools at this point.

At this point, although that a lot of people predict could increase drastically if, you know, plans to give school vouchers or savings accounts to parents, what what would that do to a problem you already have?

Well, and let me tell you that charter schools are also facing the same dilemma.

Jubilee, one of our charter school this year, close in the middle of the school year with no process.

They just posted posted on their wall that we were closing overnight.

So because of declining a declining enrollment.

Of course, if that voucher or the education savings that is approved by our legislature, it could have significant implications for San Antonio.

I see.

Like I as well, rural district and most districts across the state, state of Texas, if parents opt themselves to take their kids and send them to private schools, and why can't you just use the same campuses that you have?

Maybe not as many classrooms, but the same schools, but a smaller number of students?

That's an issue to that that that's an issue first, for two reasons.

The first one is our inability to provide high quality education.

We have schools with 150 students, 142 students that we cannot offer a full time librarian.

We only have mental support one day a week.

And one parent in one of these community meetings said, I understand why you're doing this because you only offer mental health support in my school on Wednesday.

But my son has crises that are not going to happen on Wednesday.

They can't be Monday, Tuesday, and then there's nobody available for that.

The second piece is we are taking money away from larger school to subsidize and keeping smaller school.

They're much more expensive to operate and we offer less service.

So right now, I would argue that as a community we seem to put our value of investing in buildings rather than investing in the education.

And we have a map here of the district itself.

It may be in different parts of the city than some people realize.

Out to 410 on the northwest side, east of Wharton, on the east side, where are the there are pockets, I understand, of a I would say worse declining enrollment.

But where you have to close more schools, Where are those?

Yeah.

So we have pockets.

We have actually throughout the entire entire district, I think very few places, very few neighborhoods, according to the demographer I've seen increase and and they're school age population.

But the east side, for example, the east side has been impacted for significant reason, declining birth rate, a policy that disinvested and in that area.

So we do have an analysis and in our website you can go and see the map and actually see zip code by zip code, the declining birth rate in the last five years.

And this is a problem we didn't used to have on the north side.

It used to be San Antonio Independent School District, Edgewood.

As they closed two schools this week, they were declining for a number of years while North Side northeast were booming.

But that's not the case now either.

And so across the country, across the area, this is an issue.

Absolutely.

I just recently read that Plano, Texas, a suburb outside outside Dallas, is conducting a research studies right sizing study.

Never thought this was a growing area, but this is a reality.

I want to tell you, Randi, that demographers have cautioned us for a long time about the risk to Medicare and Social Security due to declining birth rate.

Well, a school system, pre-K to 12, are feeling that impact now.

So this is a wake up call for us as a country to see what are the implications when we have a aging population.

But some people might think that that would be offset by people moving in from across the country.

California.

Other headlines here talk about the booming economy or the booming housing that we don't have enough affordable housing across or there are people coming from California, $800,000 homes they sell.

They have a lot they can buy wherever they want.

But those aren't people or a lot of them with young families, correct?

That's correct.

They don't have young families.

And even those who are starting family are starting later in life, like in their 30 and maybe having one or two or two kids.

We see that grow in construction in downtown and around the San Antonio, San Antonio.

But if you look at that, they're not single homes, family friendly.

So that's the reality, our demographer said, because that question was posed to him like, But we see all this.

It's one of the fastest growing cities that you've been the fastest growing city for a long time, and your and your school age population has declined.

But Jalen McKee Rodrigues, District two.

Yes, Councilman part of the east side and into the I won't say downtown area but in into the central city testified or talked about at the board meeting that he wanted more time.

He's against the closure plan because he wanted more time to get affordable housing in the area of the school district.

That's not feasible to wait.

So a couple of things.

You know, I know people say they need more time.

I believe this is long overdue.

Overdue.

We have had this declining enrollment for over 20 years.

In 2009, the school district closed nine school, though they had 30 on the list and the community was in outrage and said, give us time.

We're going to show you.

We're going to market and get more students.

Out of the original 19 schools that we had on the list at almost every one of them.

We're on that list in 2009, 15 years ago, and their enrollment had has declined.

And the second reason is we have a sense of urgency.

And in the district, as I have in this interview with you, I'm losing a generation of student, 60% of my students who graduate from San Antonio History are not college ready in English or in math.

That's a crime and a sin.

Our students can not wait until we get our act together.

I know Councilman said that, but in this scene they're saying meeting.

We had a senior from Fox to ask Camilo Lopez, who said, Please, this is not about the adult.

Listen to us.

This is about our future and we want you to invest in our education.

That's why my student advisory council support the rice, I think because they want us to invest our limited dollars in providing them a high quality education.

And when you say this is not about the adults, that's I guess because a lot of parents and grandparents said, I want my kid going to the same school I did, this is, you know, memories.

This is part of our neighborhood.

But that's just not feasible as well.

You argue.

Absolutely.

We have.

I heard that we have schools with 140 kids.

When we only have seven teachers.

We don't have librarians.

We don't have mentors on board.

We don't have counselor, we don't have intervention teacher at not extracurricular activity.

So I would say, you know, I understand the history and the traditions of these, but we're living in the past and we need to invest in the future of our generation by giving the the challenges that were given to me to pursue a life without boundaries, then we're about out of time.

But tell us the timeline now for closing these schools.

And some of the plans are still in flux right now.

In terms of the specifics, no, no, the plans are not in flux.

I actually on our website, we have to what we call Empowerment Transition Plan one for our staff and one for families like 164 pages, very, very detailed.

But that timeline is we are already starting with the transition.

Every school has a transition team that is visiting them this week to talk to them.

So and their schools will close in 2425, except for two where we have a delayed closure.

Those are done, although some people argued, well, it's still, you know, the plan still I understand a couple of the board members said it's not complete enough for them to vote on vote for.

But that's not the case as well.

That that's not the case.

We have a solid plan.

I encourage your viewers to go to our website, the right sizing website, and you'll see that detailed plans and for every impact to school as well.

All right.

Well, thank you very much, Jaime Aquino of the San Antonio Independent School District Superintendent.

Thank you very much for coming in and explaining all this.

My pleasure.

Along with the planned closures of schools in San Antonio, CPS Energy also made some news this week with a proposed rate increase of four and a quarter percent.

Here to explain all about that and some questions about that, obviously, this is controversial for a lot of people is CPS energy's president and CEO, Rudy Garza.

Thank you very much for coming in.

Thanks for having me, Randi.

First of all, why do you need that increase?

Because it's the second increase in less than about two years and some people aren't really happy with that.

Well, remember, two years ago, we hadn't had a rate increase in in eight years.

And so we came in at a really high percentage.

We were talking double digits two years ago.

And what we agreed to with our board and with council is to come in more frequently with smaller numbers on cost that we can that are clear that we can justify.

And you talked about the 10%, but what did it wind up?

A couple?

Well, they ended up being 3.85%.

And so and we said then we're going to be back in two years once we kind of sharpen our pencil on some of the costs that we knew were coming, that we had some work to do on.

And we were originally talking five and a half and we came in with this in a quarter.

That's right.

And so, you know, we're trying to do the best to manage, but we're going to be back, you know, for the in the coming year.

The biggest reasons for that, we have to transition our system into the future.

I've got to build new power plants to replace old power plants.

I've got to replace poles.

I've got to serve the growth that we're seeing, astronomical growth in this community, the system just getting older.

And so when you have moments of high investment, which we're in right now, you've got to plan for that investment in a way that's going to maintain affordability.

And that's what we're trying to do in the high investment you want to get rid of are retire the coal plant on the north or in the south east side and also transition some of that to natural gas, one of them.

But what about building people might not be aware of your plans for building new power plants.

Right.

So we we have we have contracted to build more solar.

We have we're in the process of procuring batteries, storage technology with that which acts just like a gas plant in the in the really tight summer months.

You can turn it off and on for a couple of hours to help you through the really tight periods.

And we're going to continue to build natural gas and into the future.

I don't want to build a huge, big power plant that we're going to have to worry about retiring early in the future, like we're doing with the spruce units.

I want to build smaller, quicker START units.

So we're talking about building 400 megawatts of natural gas, what we call peaker plants that we can turn off and on when the market needs them.

That we believe is the right, right choice right now.

And that kind of dispatchable energy bringing it online quick when people need it.

The ERCOT is now encouraging that by paying more for that kind of energy does that, and that's making more money for CPS energy.

Well, there's opportunities, too, to make money our plants have to run.

And and we have, you know, which which is why you need to diversified portfolio in the summer months when our solar is producing that gives us flexibility to serve that to sell that excess power into the market, which benefits our ratepayers with additional resources that we can reinvest in to CPS energy.

So for us, it makes sense.

We've got to have, you know, dispatchable to provide reliability, but we also have to retire the coal plant, which the communities told us they want us to do and replace that with with more solar.

You know, we have plenty of wind and battery storage.

So overall, the power grid in Texas, because of that dispatchable, you know, that they want more of that, that people are keeping in reserve to make more money off of.

So overall, the power grid, does it have as much energy as it did a year ago?

So remember, Texas is growing at an astronomical rate right now.

2000 1100 new people come to Texas every day and we're behind as a state.

We're behind in building new generation to meet that growth and in the state of Texas.

So the generation that's in place today is that much more valuable.

So it's not just a matter of making more money.

We're trying to maintain reliability for the for the entire court system in San Antonio is part of that.

So it's not like some cities, Austin has said they have a problem or concerns about getting rid of the coal plant that they wanted to get rid of a couple of years ago because it makes more money that and they made like $11 million in one day in August.

And you can make that kind of money with a coal plant because it's dispatchable.

That's where some of that $85 million extra this year came from.

Every community has to decide, you know, what the policy objectives are and how they maintain their fleet.

For us.

That's why moving one of our newer coal units over to natural gas is really about maintaining reliability and continue to give us that flexibility.

So that's why we're doing that's why we're, you know, moving from coal to natural gas is to maintain reliability and to make sure that power is there when the sun is in shining.

And one of the reasons or one of the arguments for going ahead and raising the rates is because you say the rates in San Antonio, CPS energy are lower than across the state.

That's right.

So why are they lower?

Well, they're lower because we do a really good job managing our costs.

That doesn't mean all the costs that affect every other utility don't affect us.

But, you know, we're looking at things over the long term.

So my job is to deliver energy as efficiently as I possibly can.

But we also you know, you're never standing still.

You're either moving forward or you're falling behind.

And, you know, if I'm not making these thoughtful investments today, that means in the coming years, I'm going to need even higher rate increases, you know, to be able to make the investments we need.

So my job is to run a reliable system first and to ensure that system is as affordable as possible.

Wind and solar.

When you talk about adding that people have been concerned about not only the battery storage but also the transmission from where it is now, you know, a lot of it out in West Texas, that the transmission lines, you can only get so much power going so far without costing more money.

Is this stuff going to be closer wind and solar?

So we're we're working with partners that are siting these facilities on existing transmission lines.

So we're thoughtful about not, you know, building somewhere.

We're going to have to build a big transmission line that raises the costs.

We're getting really competitive prices for the renewables that we're procuring right now because we're thoughtful about where they're going.

And you're getting some of this or planning some of this.

When you talk about sites around San Antonio, all over the state of Texas, we've got some out in West Texas.

One of the newest ones that we've just agreed to purchase from is going to be in Golia, Texas, east of here.

So the more geographic diversity that you have for you solar, the more reliable it's going to be, you know, based on kind of cloud patterns and weather patterns.

Sometimes it's going to be cloudy in the West, you know, So you're going to need to get it from from other places.

So we maintain geographic diversity to ensure that we get as much of it as we can.

All right.

Well, thanks very much.

We're out of time.

But Rudy Garza, CPS Energy, I appreciate you coming in.

Thanks.

Thank you, Randi.

On Reporters roundtable this week, we're talking about a proposal to discharge some treated waste water and sewage water into the Gulf of Mexico off the Texas coast.

Here to talk about that is Sanford Nowlin, who is editor in chief of the San Antonio Current.

Thanks for coming.

So we're clear, I'm not the one that's going to discharge.

You're not going.

Yes, I should say that it's Elon Musk and SpaceX wants to tell us about this because it has gotten very little publicity, this plan, as opposed to, you know, Elon Musk plans to launch from Boca Chica, that SpaceX's Starship again, that rained debris a few months.

Yeah.

Yeah.

This it's interesting because these two things kind of raise similar concerns about what effect space X is having on the environment in South Texas.

And essentially, Musk's company has reached out to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to seek a permit to dump up to 200,000 gallons per day of treated wastewater and sewage water that's being produced at the site.

You know, basically they said, look, we're growing.

We got more employees.

We want to treat this stuff on site.

But there's a small chance we may not be able to treat it all.

So, hey, can we dump 200,000 gallons of this stuff into an estuary called South Bay?

You know, basically asking to dump treated sewage water into a delicate area?

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's it's a it's considered an ultra sailing or ultra salty estuary, which means it's a specific breeding ground for, you know, endangered sea turtles.

Endangered birds.

It was, in fact, the first coastal preserve that Texas declared about 40 years ago when it started trying to, you know, protect environmentally sensitive areas.

So there's a lot of outrage in South Texas, especially among environmentalists.

There have been I think it's we're up to 160 or so comments with the TV crew, most of which have been negative.

People urging the agency to reject the permit.

You know, and it comes after earlier this year and in April.

Right.

They launched the first Starship from Space Act.

That's a bigger rocket than they've done before.

Oh, yeah.

This is you know, if you believe Musk, it's the most powerful rocket ever launched.

And it blew up and rained debris over South Texas.

The U.S.

Fish and Wildlife and the FAA are still reviewing the data to see what kind of environmental damage, if any, was caused by the explosion.

And that has held up Musk's plans to launch a second rocket.

Now he's telling the media that he'd like to do that, you know, within a matter of days.

And he thinks that regulators are going to give him the green light.

And that's one of the reasons he moved to Texas or a lot of his business sectors of California's because of less regulation.

Yeah, I mean, he's been very public about that, that he's he's jerked stuff out of California, moved it to Texas and wants to continue to do so because he doesn't like the regulatory environment in California and prefers Texas, although this would be federal regulators, FAA, Fish and Wildlife Service.

What are the odds, you think, of them approving this?

And TXU?

You know, TXU has a reputation, I think, for being much more lax than environmental regulator or environmental regulatory groups, agencies in other states, you know, whether they're going to approve this thing or not.

I'm not sure.

But I know that the concerns, especially around the, you know, the endangered species and the fact this is a protected estuary certainly are not working in his favor, although the TXU, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality argues that they need to do this consistent with sustainable economic development.

Right.

So that's yeah, therein lies the rub, right?

I mean, we kind of have a, you know, a state government that, you know, is very reticent to hold back economic development.

And certainly, you know, Musk has has been a favorite talking point for Governor Greg Abbott.

You know, look, he he's constantly bragging about, you know, Musk moving stuff here.

And the development has been for Texas and saying that we've got this great, you know, environment for business, but bringing jobs in.

And there's SpaceX Starship and another satellite launch is getting a lot more headlines across the state, across country.

Then this estuary with the wastewater and you've looked into it that there's in the Rio Grande Valley, there's some coverage and that's about it.

Yeah, I was excited.

Yeah, I was surprised at how little how little attention it's gotten.

I mean, it's not as exciting as an exploding starship, but we're talking about 200 up to 200,000 gallons per day into an economic, you know, an ecologically sensitive area.

You know, and critics have constantly raised concerns that Musk and his eagerness to sort of push forward on all these these Buck Rogers technologies, his has kind of let things like environmental concerns and worker safety concerns get pushed to the side.

Reuters a few days ago had an interesting report showing that, you know, there have been 600 injuries, worker injuries at SpaceX facilities around the country since 2014.

And, you know, they interviewed about a dozen current and former employees who, you know, said basically the chaotic work schedules have meant, you know, worker worker safety has been pushed aside and now back to the estuary water.

We're about out of time.

But the timeline on that, do you think, is how long Tiki is taking comments right now?

And then they have to approve it and Fish and Wildlife.

And so it's not going to happen today.

Yeah, I mean, the the the website is still open.

It's still taking, you know, comments from people and environmental groups have certainly lined up to to express opposition.

I wouldn't be surprised if there's a lawsuit over it.

There were certainly many lawsuits or I shouldn't say many, but at least multiple lawsuits over the the exploding rocket in April and concerns about the environmental damage that might have done.

Well, thanks for coming in.

I wish we had more time.

Sanford now on the editor in chief of the San Antonio Current.

I know you're going to have more on this, so probably a pleasure and thank you for joining us for this edition of On the Record.

You can see this show again or any of the previous shows.

You can also download the podcast at KLRN.org I'm Randy Beamer and we'll see you next time on the record is brought to you by Steve and Adele.

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