BY ANGELA BONILLA, HANNAH NORTON & JULIANNA WASHBURN
What comes next
Zooming out
CISD planned to adopt its FY 2025- 26 budget after press time Aug. 19, with a proposed tax rate of $0.9496 per $100 valuation, the same as FY 2024-25. CISD ocials declined to comment further on the possible eects of HB 2 as of press time. “Conroe ISD is continuing to review HB 2 and its eects on the district’s special education programs,” district ocials said in a statement. Meanwhile, Holland said Region 6 will have internal training for its sta 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.
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 gure 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
Percent of special education students in Conroe ISD
+61.32%
2018- 19
2019- 20
2020- 21
2021- 22
2022- 23
2023- 24
2024- 25
SOURCE: TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCYCOMMUNITY IMPACT
special education services nationally is also 15%, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
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THE WOODLANDS EDITION
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