Laredo ISD Kicked Special Needs Kids Out of Programs They Needed
The national average of kids enrolled in special education services in public schools is 13 percent, but the Texas average is well below that marker at 8.5 percent. An investigative report by the Houston Chronicle detailed why: the Texas Education Agency set a benchmark in 2004 that only 8.5 percent of a school’s students should receive such services.
Although this benchmark wasn’t an explicit directive from the TEA, the Houston Chronicle reported that the measure did effectively cap the number of students enrolled in services due to threats of audits and fines if schools did not comply.
Citing the report, the federal government ordered Texas to stop the cap unless state officials can show, by Nov. 3, that children with disabilities who need these services aren’t being denied.
But that’s going to be a lot harder for Texas lawmakers to do after a new report by the Houston Chronicle’s Brian M. Rosenthal detailing how kids are being turned away.
Read more: http://www.texasstandard.org/stories/laredo-isd-kicked-special-needs-kids-out-of-programs-they-needed/
