Developments

For fourth straight year, Texas special education “needs The rating came a month after the Texas Education Agency explicitly told the Department of Education it cannot promise students with disabilities would receive an appropriate education until June 30, 2020. Continue Reading

Texas needs to find billions to help special education It's a staggering price-tag for a state that has cut its share of education funding substantially over the past decade, and it will throw a wrench in lawmakers' budget plans for next year. Continue Reading

Feds find Texas schools violated special education laws For more than a decade, TEA judged a school district's' performance based in part on the percentage of students receiving special education services. Continue Reading

Legislature unanimously approves bill to end special ed cap Texas lawmakers have sent Gov. Greg Abbott a bill banning the state from ever setting a target on the number of students who can enroll in special education. Continue Reading

Major strides made on special ed, but much work remains As Rechner spent the months at war with Demarcus' school for services, lawmakers at the Texas Capitol have been mulling how to help students with disabilities in light of a 2016 Chronicle investigation. Continue Reading

For soldiers whose kids have special needs, Texas isn't good fit Texas loves to proclaim its support for the armed forces. But for soldiers who have children with disabilities, there may be no worse place in the country to live, the Houston Chronicle has found. Continue Reading

Senate passes bill to bar special ed cap The Texas Senate moved Wednesday to ban state officials from ever again imposing a cap on the percentage of students allowed to receive special education services. Continue Reading

Texas lawmakers launch effort to repair special ed woes Texas lawmakers in both political parties promised Tuesday to fix the state's special education system to ensure that children with disabilities are never again denied help arbitrarily. Continue Reading

Texas to start debating special ed bills Tuesday After six months of talking about the need to fix Texas's embattled special education system, state lawmakers are getting to work. Continue Reading

Houston special ed director resigns amid heavy criticism The director of special education in Houston public schools resigned Thursday in the wake of reports that the district had systematically denied services to thousands of students with disabilities. Continue Reading

Klein ISD gave inaccurate info about special ed for a decade For over a decade, northwest Harris County's Klein Independent School District, one of the largest in Texas, used parent information forms containing inaccurate information about the special education ... Continue Reading

Houston ISD to review its special education operations Superintendent Richard Carranza announced Thursday that the Houston Independent School District has decided to conduct a detailed review of the way that it serves students with disabilities. Continue Reading

9 districts oppose TEA special ed benchmark Texas parents have complained unsuccessfully for years to school districts and state officials about how hard it is to get special education services for their kids. Continue Reading

Feds coming to Texas for 'listening sessions' on special ed The U.S. Department of Education said it is dispatching officials to Texas to ask residents and educators whether the state is illegally denying special education services to students with disabilities. Continue Reading

TEA tells schools they must serve kids with disabilities Facing increasing criticism over its special education enrollment benchmark, the Texas Education Agency this week told schools that they must provide services to all eligible students. Continue Reading

TEA suspends special education enrollment target The Texas Education Agency has agreed to stop auditing school districts that give specialized education to more than 8.5 percent of students, officials announced. Continue Reading

Straus to TEA: fix or suspend special ed benchmark Texas HouseSpeaker Joe Straus asked the Texas Education Agency to immediately stop penalizing school districts for providing special education services to more than 8.5 percent of students. Continue Reading

Feds order Texas to end special ed benchmark The federal government on Monday ordered Texas state officials to eliminate an 8.5 percent benchmark on special education enrollment enforced in the state's 1,200 school districts. Continue Reading

Superintendents call for end to state's special ed benchmark The leaders of two of the state's biggest school districts are calling on the TEA to stop penalizing districts for giving specialized education to more kids than the agency has deemed prudent. Continue Reading

Straus: Students who need special ed should get it House Speaker Joe Straus said he would work with the TEA to address concerns about a monitoring system that has led school districts to keep thousands of children with disabilities out of special ed. Continue Reading