Over the last year and a half, Texas Education Agency has acknowledged gaps in services for students with learning disabilities and has recently submitted a plan to correct and improve public school practices in its Special Education Programs. Families of children with learning disabilities should understand how their child might have been impacted and how future plans will affect their child's learning environment.
The TEA released the 42-page draft strategic plan after a 15-month federal investigation concluded Texas had not been providing kids with disabilities the tools and services they needed to learn, likely failing to educate thousands of students and violating federal law. Federal officials found the state was effectively incentivizing school districts to keep their special education numbers low and that many teachers fundamentally misunderstood the legal requirements around educating kids with disabilities. (Update, April 26: The TEA released its finalized plan on April 24, taken Texas Tribune.)
The final version of the plan comes after months of draft proposals and feedback sessions with parents, educators, education advocates and students. The state is aiming to repair a decade-old practice that drastically reduced the number of students receiving special education services. TEA officials have repeatedly said the 8.5 percent benchmark was not a cap but an “indicator of performance.” But in practice, districts used the number as a cap, the Department of Education found, and denied or delayed services for children across the state (taken from alejandra.matos@chron.com).
