Texas Education Agency asking for public input on special education plan

The Texas Education Agency has released its new plan for overhauling special education across the state.

The TEA has been working on the plan since federal officials found the state had illegally denied services to students with disabilities for years. The plan would create a professional statewide special education deployment system. It also calls for increasing special education staffing, providing better special education training for teachers and creating more tools for parents of children with suspected disabilities.

Norma De La Rosa, the President of the El Paso Teacher’s Association, said she’s skeptical of the plan.

“They’re saying they’re going to want to put all these resources into place but with limited funding and that’s not going to cut it,” De La Rosa said. “Our special education students have a lot of different needs that our different from what our regular education students receive and that’s going to cost money.”

The draft reads: “TEA cannot legally commit additional funds outside of those that are appropriated by the Texas Legislature and the U.S. Congress. This strategic plan has been designed so that it can be sustained with existing appropriations.”

“The funding will be limited, it’s going to be limited to what the state gets from state and federal funds but we’re going to expect you to do this,” De La Rosa said. “And that’s not fair, that’s not right.”

De La Rosa said she does see the need for more special education teachers within El Paso schools.

“A lot of our teachers who are inclusion teachers who work in resource classes that work with our special education students for one are really strapped with the resources that they get,” De La Rosa said. “They’re very strapped with the time that they have.”

Special Education Director for Region 19 Juan Alderete said about 17,000 students throughout El Paso are enrolled in special education classes. He said if parents have concerns that their child might need special attention, to notify their school. He said the school has within 15 days to respond. There is then a specific process to be followed that parents should be familiarized with. To view that guide, click here.

The public has until April 6 to provide their input on the TEA’s drafted plan until it is submitted to the U.S. Department of Education. The public can email the TEA with comments at TexasSPED@tea.texas.gov.