Background
During the 78th Texas Legislative Session (January 2003), House Bill 1441 repealed
the requirement in Texas Education Code §42.151(j) for the Texas Education Agency
(TEA) to require and review LEA responses regarding exceeding the state ratio
by 25% or more. However, the TEA is required to disseminate a list each year
of those LEAs that have a ratio of students with disabilities in segregated
settings that is 25% higher than the statewide average ratio. The Agency has
an ongoing obligation to ensure that LEAs are compliant with least restrictive
environment (LRE) requirements contained within the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act, Part B (IDEA-B).
Texas Education Code §42.151(j) was amended as follows:
Each year, the agency shall make and disseminate to each school district a list of those districts that maintain for two successive years a ratio of full-time equivalent students placed in partially or totally self-contained classrooms to the number of full-time equivalent students placed in resource room or mainstream instructional arrangements that is 25 percent higher than the statewide average ratio.
In response to this requirement, the Agency has gathered information from the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) about those districts that exceed the statewide average ratio by 25 percent or more for two successive years. The ratio is determined by dividing the sum of full-time equivalents (FTEs) in the self-contained, severe, regular campus; self-contained, mild/moderate, regular campus; and off home campus instructional arrangements by the sum of FTEs in the resource room and average daily attendance in the mainstream instructional arrangements.
List
of Districts Exceeding the Ratio
Sortable by Region, County-District Number, District Name, Status (whether the
district is new to the list, increasing or decreasing in relation to the statewide
average ratio), and Cycles (refers to exceeding the statewide average ratio
by 25% for two consecutive years, beginning with the 1994-1995 school year).
Technical Assistance
Districts are encouraged to request technical assistance about 125% from the special education contact at their regional education service centers.
Texas Education Agency | Division of IDEA Coordination
1701 North Congress Avenue | Austin, Texas 78701-1494
Telephone: 512.463.9414 | Fax: 512.463.9560
Last Updated: March 22,, 2007 | Created: June 8, 2004
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