The Woodlands Edition | May 2026

Education

BY COLE GEE

Conroe ISD adopts special education plan At its April 21 regular board meeting, the Conroe ISD board of trustees adopted a new plan to decentralize its special education program for the 2026-27 school year. CISD Deputy Superintendent Ted Landry said special education students will return to their regularly zoned campuses, instead of being bused

Conroe ISD addresses bus seat belt needs At its April 21 regular board meeting, the Conroe ISD board of trustees discussed potential costs for addressing the district bus eet’s seat belt needs due to Senate Bill 546, which requires district buses to be equipped with three-point seat belts by Sept. 1, 2029. Assistant Superintendent of Operations Chris McCord said retrotting the 320 buses needed would cost $10.2 million and buying 320 new buses would cost $54.09 million. The gist CISD ocials said the district does not have the funds available to replace the buses. Ocials said they will address this issue in the future, possibly through a master facilities plan.

Special education investments In addition to decentralizing special education instruction, CISD will invest $3.2 million in: $700,000: • 24 supporting teacher roles and position realignment

Total: $3.2M

$2.5 million: • 15 new dyslexia teachers • 4 new speech pathologists • 4 new diagnosticians • 4 new school psychologists

to central locations. About the program

SOURCE: CONROE ISDCOMMUNITY IMPACT

Landry said the district’s special education population has increased by 15% over the past ve years, with 11,911 special education students currently enrolled in the district. CISD also plans to invest $3.2 million into the special education program, by re-establishing 24 supporting teacher rolls as well as adding 27 new special education teachers, Landry said.

Looking ahead The new homecoming plan is expected to reduce costs by eliminating eight bus routes in the district that had bused students to the centralized locations, saving an estimated $800,000. CISD conrmed that there will be no planned budget cuts for the special education budget or teacher positions.