The overview
According to data released from the Texas Education Agency in March, HISD has seen its special education population rise from around 3,200 students in the 2015-16 school year to more than 7,800 students in the 2024-25 school year—a roughly 144% increase.
TEA data shows the spike also increased the percentage of students receiving services. In the 2014-15 school year, the special education population represented roughly 7.8% of all HISD students. By the 2024-25 school year, the percentage of HISD students receiving special education services rose to around 16.1%.
Jolene Sanders, advocacy director for nonprofit Coalition of Texans with Disabilities, said the sharp rise can be largely attributed to the removal of TEA restrictions that previously limited the percentage of students that school districts could designate to receive special education services at 8.5% of the district’s student population.
Henry Phipps, HISD’s chief of educational support services, said he attributes the rise in HISD to several additional factors, including earlier screenings, greater public awareness of disabilities such as autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and state-mandated dyslexia screenings.
In April, state senators approved Senate Bill 568, which would restructure the distribution of special education funding and provide a one-time sum of $125 million that would be divided among districts to address staffing needs.
A closer look
Students with disabilities who are part of general education classrooms are calculated in the average daily attendance allotment from the state, which has been $6,160 per student since 2019, according to TEA documents. The amount the state gives for special education students is weighted differently based on the accommodations the student receives.
Districts are only required to spend 55% of their special education allotment; HISD officials said it’s historically spent 100% as expenditures typically exceed the allotment. According to a 2023 report from advocacy group Disability Rights Texas, districts funded about $6.3 billion in special education programs in the 2020-21 school year despite receiving about $4 billion for these from the state.
Since 2015, HISD’s special education workforce rose from about 745 employees to around 1,180 this year, district data shows.
Despite receiving a $47.2 million special education allotment for the 2023-24 school year, HISD still spent roughly $83.3 million on special education payroll alone the same year, according to district data.
Phipps said the increased workforce helps HISD run initiatives tailored to special needs students, including the Mosaic Program, which supports disabled students as they transition out of high school.
Eva Aguirre—director of programs at The Village Centers, a local nonprofit that supports young adults with disabilities as they transition out of high school—said the nonprofit has seen a similar rise in demand for services.
“We’ve had many referrals here in the last few years from [HISD’s] Mosaic program,” Aguirre said.
In the 2022-23 school year, the most recent data available from the National Center for Education Statistics, roughly 7.5 million students in the United States received special education services, which equated to roughly 15% of all public school students. According to the TEA:
- Texas is the lone state to increase its special education enrollment by over 20% from 2017 to 2021.
- Texas made up more than half the national growth in special education students from 2017 to 2021.
- The nation saw an average of 3% growth in special education students from 2017 to 2021.
Phipps said the district is hoping Texas lawmakers will allot more funding for special education services before the legislative session wraps up in June.
On April 7, senators approved SB 568, which would create an eight-tier system basing special education funding on the level of services districts provide. The bill includes a one-time investment of $125 million to support teacher and staffing pipeline needs statewide.
Phipps said he believes HISD will continue to expand its programing to accommodate growing student needs.
“This includes increasing the number of specialized staff, enhancing intervention services and providing additional training to ensure that teachers and service providers are equipped to meet the diverse needs of students,” he said.
Hannah Brol & Haley Velasco contributed to this report.
