• Home >

Special Education & Schools

read time 3 minutes

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.

The Latest

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

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

December 31, 2022: view the Texas Commission on Special Education Funding Report to the 88th Texas Legislature

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.

Ending Harmful Restraints

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 current 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.

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.

---

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