Austin ISD to appeal state intervention of its special education department
Austin Independent School District leaders will announce late Monday afternoon whether it will appeal the state appointment of a conservator management team to oversee its special education operations.
AUSTIN (KXAN) – Austin Independent School District leaders began the process of appealing the state appointment of a conservator management team to oversee its special education operations on Monday.
“We understand the severity of this problem and take full ownership in addressing it,”
said Austin ISD interim Superintendent Matias Segura. "We want to ensure the best possible alignment between our efforts as a district and the efforts of the state for the ultimate benefit of our students.”
The Austin school district has been under investigation by the Texas Education Agency since 2021 for repeatedly missing state and federal deadlines to evaluate students suspected of needing special education services.
The agency heightened its intervention on March 31 – announcing its plan to add a state-appointed management team to oversee the district special education operations.
The district has since held multiple meetings with parents and stakeholders explaining the impact of a more severe intervention from the state.
The district submitted a response to the TEA Monday asking for an informal review of the Texas Education Agency's decision to appoint a team of conservators to oversee special education.
The district will also have the option to appeal the recommendation to the State Office for Administrative Hearings, or SOAH, following the state's review findings. The SOAH decision would be final once made.
The agency’s final investigative report on the district showed the results of 43 investigations into its special education department since 2020. The agency found a “repetitive and pervasive pattern of violations.”
TEA investigators also said they found, in some cases, the district waited as long as 9 months after getting approval from parents to evaluate students. State law requires districts to do so within 45 days.
District officials have not denied the state of its special education evaluation backlog – and have largely blamed the delays on staffing challenges.
Segura said during a press conference on April 1 the district was down 51 employees who are qualified to do the evaluations.
The district said it already allocated more money to hire contractors to assist with evaluations, added sign-on bonuses to recruit staff, and created a data dashboard tracking the backlog.
“It’s a challenge for an organization of our size to get the number that we need to be able to perform the work. So, we’ve been looking at identifying different types of incentives to get them into AISD,” Segura said.
Austin ISD is the latest school district to face some level of state intervention. Earlier this year, TEA announced it plans to appoint a board of managers and to replace the superintendent of Houston Independent School District after years of low student performance at several campuses.
Texas Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin, who has a student enrolled in an Austin ISD school, initially released information about TEA’s intentions. Hinojosa, a former AISD board president, said she was dismayed TEA would appoint a conservator at this time.
“The TEA has been under federal oversight by the Department of Education for its failings regarding special education since 2018. I have yet to hear from the Commissioner how or why the TEA is better equipped to address our pressing challenges,” Hinojosa said. “I have been aware of AISD’s shortcomings regarding students in special education for some time now. In fact, it has been a challenge to access these services for my own son in AISD,” Hinojosa said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.