This is a big part of the takeover mandate, so making progress on fixing the identified issues with special education is a must.
Houston ISD’s state-appointed superintendent and Board of Managers have maintained a laser-like focus on improving schools’ state-issued accountability scores since taking over the district in June 2023, overhauling 130 campuses with staffing and curriculum reforms to improve academic results.
That’s because one of the most challenging criteria for the district to exit the state takeover is that no HISD campus can receive failing ratings from the TEA for consecutive years. Forty-one campuses received a D or F rating from the Texas Education Agency in 2024, according to unofficial results.
But another exit criterion demands that HISD meet all state and federal requirements in its long-struggling special education department, according to the TEA. In 2024, the state issued “needs intervention” as the district’s special education determination status. HISD enrolled more than 18,000 children in special education services in 2024, or about 10% of the student population. (The third and final criteria to exit state takeover is improving board governance.)
Reports commissioned by the district in 2011 and 2018 detailed major gaps in HISD’s special education practices, and in 2016, just 7.4% of HISD students received special education services — about half the national average. A 2020 TEA investigation found that HISD had “significant, systemic and widespread” issues with its special education services, violating state and federal laws designed to ensure students with disabilities receive needed supports.
A state-appointed conservator began monitoring HISD in December 2020, including setting goals and publishing monthly reports on the district’s progress. New exit criteria were added at the advent of the state takeover in June 2023.
HISD reported that it “significantly improved” its services for special education students in the 2023-24 school year, although conservators wrote in May that the district still remains slightly “off track” to reach full compliance with its goals and legal mandates.
See here, here, and here for some background. There are seven criteria by which HISD is being measured, which the story gets into. It looks like decent progress is being made, which is great both for the stakeholders and for everyone’s wish to usher Mike Miles back to Dallas. Check it out.
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