Texas Education Agency (TEA) Commissioner Mike Morath provided a regularly scheduled update to the State Board of Education (SBOE) at the board’s Wednesday meeting in Austin. 

The update focused on special education, with Morath claiming the agency has resolved the special action response required by the U.S. Department of Education to address the state’s illegal withholding of required special education services. 

Morath said TEA has launched a unified special education technical assistance website, spedsupport.tea.texas.gov, with training resources for special educators across Texas. The agency has also developed an “Overview of Special Education for Parents” pamphlet that must be given to the parents of each child suspected of having a disability.  

SBOE member Staci Childs (D–Houston) noted that the high school that had triggered the agency’s takeover of Houston ISD had a large percentage of students who needed special education services. Childs asked whether the commissioner is working with the state-appointed superintendent and board of managers to ensure those students are being served. Morath claimed some improvement in child find practices due to the presence of conservators. He added there had been a “significant infusion of special education resources,” including additional special education staff. 

SBOE member Will Hickman (R–Houston) asked the commissioner to comment on the fact that Houston ISD and many other districts across the state are facing budget crises that have forced them to reduce staff and cut programs. The commissioner blamed “several macroeconomic factors,” including inflation and the expiration of COVID relief funding. Morath accused districts of making poor decisions by hiring full-time staff with one-time funds. He said statewide enrollment had plateaued concurrently with a drop in birth rates.  

SBOE member Pam Little (R–Fairview) asked about a backup of grievances at TEA and whether a person at the agency could address parents’ questions about those grievances. The commissioner pointed to the SPEDTex hotline, which is intended to allow parents to speak to someone by phone, including to ask questions about grievance procedures.  

SBOE member Aicha Davis (D–DeSoto) noted special education staffing disparities between schools and asked whether anything has been done to equitably serve all students in special education. The commissioner responded that the agency has increased monitoring activities and suggested the number of students who legitimately require special education services may vary widely from school to school. Davis also requested the commissioner follow through on a promised report on the agency’s actions in Houston ISD.  

SBOE member Melissa Ortega (D–El Paso) asked to what extent materials are provided to charter schools and whether they are held accountable for compliance. Morath answered that the law requires districts and charters to provide the forms and that the agency monitors their distribution. 

SBOE member LJ Francis (R–Corpus Christi) asked about whether the agency is offering guidance to school districts regarding provision of required special education services despite receiving inadequate state funding for those services. Morath said that the more students in special education a school identifies, the more funding the school will receive. Many districts have noted a significant gap between state-provided funding for special education services and how much these services cost. 

SBOE member Marisa Perez-Diaz (D–San Antonio) raised concerns over the implementation of House Bill (HB) 1605, which requires the board to approve a set of prepackaged statewide curriculum that school districts will be financially incentivized to require. Perez-Diaz noted the board needs time to process agency recommendations, which in this week’s meeting consisted of hundreds of pages of slides. Perez-Diaz asked whether members could receive agency presentations a few weeks in advance and whether staff could deliver more concise presentations specific to the board’s role in the process. 

Perez-Diaz also asked for an update on the lawsuit filed by school districts against TEA over new accountability rules unilaterally implemented by the agency that will result in lower A-F ratings across the state. Morath responded that TEA is currently enjoined from releasing A-F ratings while the Third Court of Appeals reviews the case and that last week, the agency sent school districts A-F ratings for the previous school year that had been revised (likely downward) under the new accountability rubric. This week the agency sent districts raw scores based on the current year that did not include final ratings. 

Following the commissioner’s comments, dozens of Houston ISD educators testified in the hope of making their concerns known to Morath, but he had left before public testimony began. In June, Morath replaced the district’s superintendent and elected school board with appointees who immediately enacted drastic changes to operations and curriculum. 

The educators who spoke claimed that staff are leaving Houston ISD at more than twice the normal rate because of the state takeover. They said teachers have been fired for speaking out at public meetings or voicing their concerns, while those who remain are being denied time off and leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). 

The board engaged in a lengthy discussion over whether the public testimony offered by Houston ISD teachers was allowable as it did not pertain to the agenda item.