Bill would require special education discussions during Texas school board meetings

By Haylee Chiariello, Staff writer

Published Feb 17, 2025

School boards and open charter schools would have to discuss special education policies and performance annually in open session. (Yi-Chin Lee/Houston Chronicle via AP)

Texas lawmakers are pushing to bring special education discussions into the public arena with proposed changes to service requirements. Senate Bill 568, currently under committee review, aims to reshape how school districts and open-enrollment charter schools handle matters involving students with special needs. Under current law, districts have the discretion over whether discussions about special education take place in open meetings. The proposed legislation would require school districts or open-enrollment charters to include a discussion of the performance of students in special education services programs annually during public meetings. According to a 2023 report from Every Texan, almost one-third of the approximately 5.4 million students enrolled in public education in Texas had a learning disability. That’s about 1.8 million students, which is larger than the entire population of Phoenix.

Credit: National Center for Education Statistics

Parents of students in special education said that there is little talk about special education and that they rely on each other to learn about opportunities. “As mothers, we talk about how unless we talk to each other, we don’t really know what services are available,” a North Texas mother, who chose to remain anonymous to protect her child’s privacy, said. “There’s not a handbook of ‘these are the things the school can provide,’ unless it’s decided your student needs them or not. Of course, they don’t want to do that, because then parents are going to ask for more services.” She doesn’t recall ever hearing special education discussions during public meetings. Instead, she noted that most parents in her district rely on one another for information and updates. “I didn’t hear much about it in McKinney, and I would just go just to see – are they even going to bring it up that night?” said the mother, who asked to remain anonymous to keep her child’s identity private. “In my perception, there is a fear around sharing too much.” Her family’s journey was not easy, she said. “I have never fought the system without winning,” said the mother. “Because you don’t fight it just for fun. You fight it when it’s necessary.” The mother said her child was withdrawn from school during their senior year. “It was just not going to work for us anymore,” she said. “Not my first idea, not anything that I ever wanted to do.”

Performance standards

The proposed legislation would require school districts or open-enrollment charter schools to include a discussion of the performance of students in special education services programs annually during public meetings. The bill would require the Texas Education Agency to adopt standards for student progress around college, career, or military readiness, outcomes that worry some parents and teachers. “What I worry about as a SPED teacher, when it comes to having to present to the board where we stand, then it becomes state testing,” said a North Texas teacher, who wanted to remain anonymous because they are not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. “It becomes like teaching to the test.” The teacher said now there is a baseline of what the student can do, what they have mastered and what’s proposed for the next year. “It’s kind of like stepping stones, like what stepping stones are you taking for these kids to reach mastery and hopefully be on grade level?” The fifth grader’s mother said the indicators do not apply to her daughter’s experience. She called the proposed changes “flawed.” “Although some students with special needs where that is a very appropriate indicator, there’s many where I don’t think that would be appropriate,” she said. “So how to brush the special education population, with a wide range of abilities, to fit into one set of indicators is going to be extremely difficult and misleading.” “You have already segregated a population that you think can’t be measured by the standard Texas STAAR,” she said. “But now, you want to apply a different indicator to their performance when the whole reason you pulled them out is because they weren’t easy to group.” The bill is also sponsored by Sen. Charles Creighton, R-Conroe, Sen. Peter Flores, R-Pleasanton, Sen. Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio, Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, Sen. Tan Parker, R-Flower Mound, Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas and Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo.