Special education enrollment on the rise From the cover
Special education enrollment by disability at Clear Creek ISD
The overview
Learning disability
Speech impair- ment
Dyslexia
Other*
Autism
Texas. This change has led to many districts, including CCISD, to see an increase in the number of students they must serve, which is creating other funding challenges. For CCISD, meeting the need has included assessments of its programming, hiring more staff and providing more resources to its special education programs. “We were addressing any [service] shortages in more creative ways than we ever have before. We’ve changed a support model into a more coaching model,” said Michele Staley, CCISD’s executive director of special services. “Students get better when teachers get better, so professional learning is at the core of our philosophy.”
CCISD has 6,647 students in the special services department, which oversees students enrolled in special education, for the 2024-25 school year, CCISD Communications Coordinator Sydney Hunt said in an Oct. 7 email. There are several ways a student can be eligible to receive special education services, according to the district’s special services website. Among those include a child having autism, deaf- blindness, an intellectual disability, a health impairment, a speech or language impairment, or a specific learning disability. Special education has been a challenge for Texas as a whole, as the state in recent years has expanded how many students qualify for special education, according to officials across different special needs advocacy groups in
2.5K
2K
1.5K
1K
500
0
*OTHER DISABILITIES INCLUDE INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY, DEAF AND HARD OF HEARING, VISUAL IMPAIRMENT, AND EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCE, AMONG OTHER DISABILITIES. SOURCE: TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY/COMMUNITY IMPACT
Diving in deeper
By the numbers
employees and one part-time employee were hired to fill all seven positions, district agenda documents show. Since the 2014-15 school year, the enrollment for elementary students in the special services department has increased by nearly 64%, TEA data shows. That student population has increased at a faster rate than the number of special education employees within the district. Staley said enrollment in special education increased in 2018 after the TEA required school districts to provide parents with the option to provide special education services to students with dyslexia.
Services CCISD offers for special education students include alternative academics, which modifies academic instruction in a small group setting; extended school year services; home- bound services; and a cooperative for students who are deaf and hard of hearing, among others. The district’s board of trustees approved additional staffing for the special services department, which cost $245,000 through the district’s general funds, at its Sept. 9 meeting due to an increase in elementary students needing special services. These additions filled seven paraprofessional positions for the alternative academics and resource/inclusion programs. Three full-time
Students with disabilities who are part of general education classrooms and instruction are calculated in the average daily attendance, or ADA, allotment from the state, which has been $6,160 per student since 2019, according to TEA documents. The amount the state gives for special educa- tion students is weighted differently based on the accommodations the student receives, TEA documents show.
Funding Clear Creek ISD’s special education services
Allotment
State required spending
Amount spent
$0
$10M $20M $30M $40M $50M
2018-19
Clear Creek ISD’s special education staff vs. enrollment
Special education students
Full-time employees
2019-20
8K
+56.34%
2020-21
6K
2021-22
4K
+42.35%
2K
2022-23
0
2023-24*
2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22
2022-23 2023-24*
*THE SPECIAL EDUCATION ALLOTMENT FOR THE 2023-24 SCHOOL YEAR HAS NOT BEEN FINALIZED. SOURCES: CLEAR CREEK ISD, TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY/COMMUNITY IMPACT
*THE TOTAL STAFF COUNT FOR THE 2023-24 SCHOOL YEAR HAS NOT BEEN FINALIZED.
SOURCE: TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY/COMMUNITY IMPACT
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