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Special Education & Schools

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Our Position

Texas' public education system seems to face potential radical changes every session. As the state strives to best serve all students, the Texas Legislature must not leave students with disabilities behind by neglecting to support special education programs. CTD urges the Legislature to:

• keep students with disabilities safe from harm, abuse, and maltreatment in schools
• transition to a service intensity-based special education funding formula system
• extend full day Pre-K eligibility to include students with disabilities
• push back on voucher or education savings account (ESA) initiatives that take money away from public schools
• reject censorship in the classroom

CTD opposes HB 3164 (Tepper), which prohibits Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion offices on public college campuses.

CTD opposes HB 1804 (Leo-Wilson), which would restrict the content of educational materials.

CTD opposes SB 8 (Creighton), which would create a school voucher program in Texas.

The Latest

May 3, 2023: More on opposition to HB 1804, from our policy fellow J Canciglia and board member Maria Palacios in the Austin American-Statesman: Protests are a part of U.S. history. What story will Texas' textbooks tell?

February 16, 2023: read a statement by the Texas Legislative Education Equity Coalition (of which CTD is a member) Urging State Leaders to Oppose Private Voucher Schemes

April 27, 2023: Read our statement in opposition to HB 1804: House Bill Would Prevents Students with Disabilities from Learning their own History in Public Schools

February 6, 2023: read why Pastors for Texas Children are preparing for a fight on school choice (Newsweek)

Partners

• Disability Rights Texas
• Autism Society of Texas
• Texans Care for Children
• The Arc of Texas

Background

Special Education

Texas has a long history of denying special education services to kids with disabilities or shortchanging eligible students. Over the years, CTD and other advocates have led efforts to remove the illegal 8.5% enrollment cap, to expose the misuse of funding by the Texas Education Agency that compromised confidential student information, to protect early intervention programs, and to push back on attempts to exploit students with disabilities to open the door to vouchers. As schools continue to make gains in these areas, we must also focus our attention on transitioning to a service intensity funding formula to support students to learn in their least restrictive environments, and prioritize policies that protect the very basic right of all students to feel safe from physical, emotional, and mental harm at school.

CTD supports policies that provide school districts with guidance and the necessary resources to address the current barriers to access and inequities across the state.

Full Day Pre-K

CTD supports expanding access to full day Pre-K to include children eligible for special education or 504 supports.

Vouchers

CTD opposes the adoption of any voucher program or voucher-in-disguise initiative, and calls on Legislators to ensure that children with disabilities are adequately served in public and charter schools. CTD opposes any attempts to use the COVID-19 pandemic as a vehicle to open the door to vouchers. Rather, the legislature must fix the systemic flaws in the special education system and sustain our public schools.

Federal law protects these students, but these protections do not extend to private school settings:

• The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) ensures that students with disabilities are provided access to a free appropriate public education (FAPE) based on individual strengths and needs, and that services are provided in the least restrictive environment (LRE). Parents and adult students participate in the development of the Individualized Education Program (IEP) and have due process protections when the IEP team cannot reach agreement. These rights and protections do not extend to private schools.
• Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibits any recipient of federal funding from discriminating against an individual based on disability.
• The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) provides additional protections from discrimination, regardless of whether the entity receives federal funding. One exemption is for religious entities, including religious private schools.

In addition, under an ESA system, families could face significant barriers to access such as:

• Reconciling ESA amounts with the actual cost of private services: The average private school tuition in Texas is $10,087 for elementary schools and $11,638 for high schools, with additional costs for application and enrollment fees, adaptive equipment, related services like therapy and resource, evaluation fees, and specialized instruction and materials.
• Availability of private schools and providers: Private school availability varies widely in Texas and those that do exist can establish very selective program enrollment criteria, such as requiring certain performance on entry assessments, establishing IQ thresholds, and denying access based on diagnosis, discipline history, or religious adherence.
• Specialized programs: Private schools do not necessarily serve all grade levels or genders. Others hold themselves out to be “special education” schools. which negates any opportunity for meaningful inclusion with non-disabled peers or LRE.
• Lack of accountability: Private schools are not required to employ certified teachers or conduct criminal background checks.-Source of tuition discrimination: Private schools may perceive accepting ESAs as a risk in the event a family may be unable to pay the difference out of pocket or absorb future tuition increases.
• Confidentiality: The federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) ensures that public schools maintain educational records, which parents have a right to access, and which may not be released without written parental consent. Most elementary and secondary private schools do not receive federal funding, and therefore are not required to comply with this safeguard.
• Wait-lists and maintaining enrollment once a student is accepted.

Censorship in the Classroom

While not specific to special education, CTD opposes any legislation that would prohibit discussions or instruction on certain concepts related to race, gender, diversity, and discrimination in social studies, history, government, and civics courses in public schools. As members of and advocates for the disability community, we are wary of efforts by lawmakers to limit discussions of discrimination of any group in our nation's past and present.

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Further Reading

Webinar: The Truth About Special Education Vouchers, recorded December 9, 2022, with our Jolene Sanders-Foster. Resources from the webinar:

• Steven Aleman’s Testimony to the Texas Commission on Special Education Funding: Education Savings Accounts: Implications for Students with Disabilities
• Jolene Sanders-Foster’s Testimony to the Texas Commission on Special Education Funding: Comments on Education Savings Accounts (ESA) for Students with Disabilities
• US Government Accountability Office report: Private School Choice:Federal Actions Needed to Ensure Parents Are Notified About Changes in Rights for Students with Disabilities
• National Council on Disability report: School Choice Report Series (Vouchers, Charter Schools)
• Study: Education Privatization in the United States: Increasing Saturation and Segregation

Resources

• Disability Rights Texas' Education Resources
• Navigate Life Texas' Education and Schools Resources
• Texas Education Agency's COVID-19 Resources