CISD’s special education student population grew 22% from 2023-24 to 2024-25 while overall enrollment increased less than 1% in that time, from 72,352 to 72,914 students.
House Bill 2, a piece of state legislation which was signed into law June 4, will provide $850 million statewide to support special education programs in the next two years. However, district officials said the total amount it will receive has not yet been determined.
According to a June 24 presentation, CISD could see an allotment of $1,000 per Full and Individual Initial Evaluation, or FIE, to offset special education costs, totaling about $2.5 million.
The 2025-26 budget included $5.97 million for 95 more special education teachers.
Some context
Michael Holland, executive director of the Region 6 Education Service Center, which provides services for school districts including CISD, said FIEs for students can range from $1,000-$4,000 depending on the type of evaluation. He said the additional $1,000 reimbursement will help offset that cost, but many other expenses remain for districts to contend with, such as overtime and part-time work.
“The cost of providing special education services for the [local education agencies] in Region 6 can be extensive,” Holland said. “[Districts] struggle with the cost of having to contract many of the services for the students they teach.”
However, other increases provided by HB 2 may help to offset costs in other ways, Holland said. HB 2 will also provide permanent raises for educators and support staff and set aside money for schools to spend on fixed costs, such as utilities and insurance.
Garza said while HB 2 funding will help address some of the district’s funding challenges, it is not comprehensive in its scope.
“One of the areas that we were most ... disappointed with was the special education funding that we received,” she said Aug. 6. “It did help to close the gap somewhat, but certainly not to the extent that we had hoped.”
What they're saying
“The Legislature did make some meaningful progress, ... although not to the extent that we had hoped," Garza said.
“The increase in teacher pay ... will also assist ... in the recruitment and retention of quality staff," Holland said.
Zooming out
CISD was not the only district to see an increase in special education students, as TEA data shows the number of students receiving special education services across the entire state increased by 60% in the last seven years, according to the TEA, from 531,991 to 852,472 students from the 2018-19 to 2024-25 school years.
Previous Community Impact reporting also found all 28 districts across the Greater Houston area saw a rise in students receiving special education services from 2020-25.
Since removing the cap on the percentage of students a district could classify as needing special education in 2017, that number increased statewide to about 15.4% in the 2024-25 school year, the most recent statewide figure available, according to TEA data.
CISD falls slightly below that number in 2024-25 at about 13.7%, according to the TEA. The average percentage of students receiving special education services nationally is also 15%, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
CISD adopted its FY 2025-26 budget Aug. 19, with a tax rate of $0.9496 per $100 valuation, the same as FY 2024-25.
CISD officials declined to comment further on the possible effects of HB 2 as of press time.
“Conroe ISD is continuing to review HB 2 and its effects on the district’s special education programs,” district officials said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Holland said Region 6 will have internal training for its staff to assist understanding the changes of HB 2.
“A legislative training will be created and presented to school boards across the region so they can receive their required update,” Holland said.
