ATX116 is built on the belief that Austin's public schools deserve people who show up consistently, who tell the truth about what's happening to them, and who do that work proactively without waiting for permission. This page explains what this work costs, where it goes, and the reality we're working inside of.

Texas public education is under real pressure right now. The state's basic allotment, the core per-student funding number that determines what districts have to work with, has not kept pace with inflation in years. Districts across the state, including Austin ISD, have had to close campuses, cut programs, and ask communities to absorb the consequences of funding decisions made far from any classroom. At the same time, the threat of state takeover hangs over districts including Austin ISD. The pattern is clear: progress is not protection. Districts that improve their outcomes are not shielded from intervention, and communities, including educators, principals, and families, are too often the last to know what's coming.

This is the landscape ATX116 was built for. We are not a research institute or a policy shop. We are parents, educators, neighbors, and organizers who believe Austin families deserve a place to understand and process what's happening, document what's being lost, and build the kind of community power that can actually push back to protect and strengthen our public schools.

ATX116 is intentionally structured as an LLC. This is a deliberate choice. Nonprofit structures come with boards, grant cycles, and reporting requirements that can slow down or dilute grassroots work. We wanted to move at the speed of our community and the speed of trust. Our grassroots structure and independence are what set us apart, and they let us do the work the way it needs to be done.

Being an LLC is also a statement about this moment. Historically, Austin's underfunded education system has run on nonprofit support and the time, talent, and treasure of parents, women, and teachers. Nonprofit and education culture often expect us to subsidize the work with unpaid labor. This moment requires more. An LLC says plainly: this work has value, and the people doing it get paid. Paying people for required work should not be a radical act.

When you join this movement, you support the work.

Directly into making the work possible.

We keep overhead intentionally low: a website, printing, invitations, a Google Workspace account, food and space for listening circles, workshops, and information-sharing meetings. Essentially, we only buy the basic costs of showing up for the community effectively. We also invest in partnerships, including paid collaborations with creative partners like Galvan Creative and Melo Studio, who help us document and tell these stories, and our story, well. And after those costs are covered, your contribution supports the ongoing work of ATX116's two co-founders, who have pooled their experience, relationships, and skills to build something Austin didn't have before. 

This work has never been about choosing between the individual and the collective. The teacher who stays late for one struggling student and the coalition fighting for funding at the Capitol are doing the same work from different angles. The parent advocating for their own child's classroom and the neighborhood association organizing across district lines need each other to be effective. ATX116 exists in that space between the personal and the shared, and we believe that's exactly where the power is. This is not a moment to retreat to our own corners. It's a moment to move forward together.

Thank you for considering contributing to our work and the growing community of informed and empowered education advocates working toward a shared vision.