Last year the Texas Department of Education drew sharp criticism for the low percentage of students who were receiving special education services in Texas, as compared to other states.
Education advocates charged that Texas had intentionally capped the number of students who could receive special education treatment in a given district at 8.5 percent of the total student population. As a result, they said students who fell outside this margin weren’t receiving the help they needed.
In response, as The Texas Tribune reports, Texas is expected to increase the number of public school students receiving special education services this year.
But public school advocates want to go even further, making changes they say have long been needed. For example, they want to reduce the rates at which black students are unfairly labeled as learning disabled.
