Two-minute impact
HISD has seen a large increase in the enrollment of students who qualify for special education services, representing 15.8% of the district's total enrollment in the 2022-23 school year.
This is up from 9.2% in the 2014-15 school year, district data shows.
Data presented during the meeting also shows district expenditures for special education programming increased by just under $5.5 million since the 2019-20 school year, outpacing funding received from the state and reimbursements for services provided.
Per a recommendation presented during the March 28 board meeting by Krista Garcia, a representative of consultancy TCASE Services, which performed the audit of HISD's special education program, the district will work to balance increased need for services with the costs of providing those services.
What they're saying
Garcia said one of the findings of the audit is that the district does not need to hire more special education teachers, but to better define the roles of both special and general education teachers, and move staff to different roles as needed.
"Our overall finding is that there's a mindset that more staff is needed, but our study did not find that as an outcome," Garcia said. "The district is working on a consistent staffing model, but there wasn't one in the past, so staffing requests were based on campus advocating for staff rather than a system in place."
By clarifying these roles, Garcia said the district can improve student experiences in the program and use of resources.
About the program
To better serve students qualifying for these services and their teachers, the district is working on a revamp of its special education program for the upcoming 2024-25 school year, including:
- Analyzing distribution of students in special programming for efficiencies
- Creating program-specific monitoring guidelines for campus administrators
- Creating new professional learning plans for special education teachers and paraprofessionals for the 2024-25 school year
- Developing campus schedules that build in time for collaboration between special education teachers and grade level teachers in professional learning communities
- Prioritizing special education students in training for master scheduling
