Supporting special education From the cover
What you need to know
Special education student enrollment
Magnolia ISD Tomball ISD
Increase between 2018-19 and 2023-24: Tomball ISD +86% | Magnolia ISD +78%
3,000
2,551
Students who require special education increased at Magnolia and Tomball ISDs by 78% and 86%, respectively, between the 2018-19 and 2023-24 school years, per Texas Education Agency data. With the growth, some districts saw a gap between the cost of services and the actual funds available. In a 2023 report, advocacy group Disabilities Rights Texas noted that Texas educational agencies needed $6.3 billion for special education programs in 2020-21. The state paid for $4 billion. Some Texas schools will see relief after Gov. Greg Abbott signed HB 2 on June 4, which will spend $850 million on allocating special education funding based on students’ individual needs, rather than the instructional setting. The new funding won’t be allocated until the 2026-27 school year, per the TEA. However, the new funding might not be enough to close the funding gap, ocials said. MISD Chief Financial Ocer Erich Morris said HB 2 will provide the district with an additional $600,000, bringing the total state funding to around $17.3 million. However, the current special education budget is $22.2 million, forcing MISD to nd local funds for the shortfall, Morris said. TISD ocials said they hope to benet from additional funding during the 2026-27 school year, but didn’t provide specics at this time.
2,183
2,500
1,895
1,723
2,000
2,295
1,593
1,371
2,004
1,500
1,748
1,628
1,491
1,000
1,287
500
0
2018-19
2019-20
2020-21
2021-22
2022-23
2023-24
Special education teacher positions*
Magnolia ISD Tomball ISD
Increase between 2018-19 and 2023-24: Tomball ISD +37.8% | Magnolia ISD +73.3%
200
149
145
136
150
111
111
86
100
113
99
97
82
79
74
50
0
2018-19
2019-20
2020-21
2021-22
2022-23
2023-24
*NUMBERS HAVE BEEN ROUNDED TO THE NEAREST WHOLE NUMBER. 2022£23 VALUE PROVIDED BY MAGNOLIA ISD. DISTRICT NUMBERS MAY DIFFER FROM TEA REPORTS.
SOURCE: TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCYCOMMUNITY IMPACT
Some context
March 24 and May 9, dyslexia and autism are the most common disorders measured in students in the state and in Region 4—which covers TISD, while Region 6 covers MISD. Regions 4 and 6 are education service centers that provide services to school districts. While the rising need for special education services reects broader state and national trends, TISD and MISD ocials said the rise is due to overall enrollment growth in their districts. TISD’s Chief Academic Ocer Michael Webb and Director of Special Services Keri Williams also said the state changes in the assessment method for students with dyslexia and learning disabilities have “signicantly impacted the rapid increase in special education enrollment.” MISD ocials said they’ve seen a rise in the number of students qualifying for dyslexia ser- vices, and the district is in a region where parents have access to outside resources for their chil- dren, which contributed to the overall growth.
TISD and MISD aren’t alone, as TEA data shows that the number of students receiving special education services across the entire state nearly doubled in the last decade. Since removing the cap on the number of stu- dents a district could classify as needing special education in 2017, the number of special educa- tion students has increased statewide, according to previous Community Impact reporting. For the 2023-24 school year, 14% of Texas’ total public school and public charter school students received special education services. The average number of students receiving spe- cial education services nationwide is 15% of all public school students, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Previous Community Impact reporting also found that all 28 districts across the Greater Houston area saw a rise in students receiving special education services compared to ve school years ago. According to TEA data released
Number of special education students statewide
For the 2023-24 school year, 14% of Texas’ total public school and public charter school students received special education services.
1M
+71.2%
800K
600K
400K
200K
0
SOURCE: TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCYCOMMUNITY IMPACT
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COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM
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