Texas releases new special education plan with more proposed funding

By Shelby Webb

The Texas Education Agency suggested spending $126.8 million more to shore up its special education practices than it first recommended in January, according to a new draft corrective action plan released Monday evening.

In a 42-page plan, TEA officials now recommend spending $211.3 million over six years on monitoring school districts, identifying previously unidentified students who may be eligible for special education services, professional development for teachers and engaging special education parents.

The TEA already released a 13-page draft corrective action plan in January, which officials said would be updated once they received more feedback from school districts, parents and disability advocates. That plan was estimated to cost about $84.5 million over six years.

Major changes between the first action plan and the plan released Monday include a state allocation of $65 million that school districts can use to provide compensatory services to help students previously denied special education services make-up for lost instructional help. The previous plan did not allocate any money for local school districts.

The TEA issued the plans after the U.S. Department of Education in January found the state illegally set an 8.5 percent benchmark on the number of students receiving special education services, well below the national average of 13 percent. A 2016 Houston Chronicle investigation found the practice led school districts to deny access to special education services to tens of thousands of students with disabilities.

The state has since done away with the cap, although federal officials are requiring the state to evaluate students who were denied services and determine if students in special education need more academic support. While the federal government asked the TEA to report back with its plan, Gov. Greg Abbott told the agency to file an initial draft plan a week after the U.S. Department of Education released the findings of its investigation.