Feds order Texas to comply with special ed laws
AUSTIN The federal government on Monday told Texas state officials that they must eliminate their special education enrollment target unless they can prove that it has not kept children with disabilities from getting services.
The U.S. Department of Education gave the officials a month to either provide the evidence or outline a plan to end so-called "PBMAS Indicator 10," which penalizes school districts that give specialized education to more than 8.5 percent of students.
"It appears that the State's approach to monitoring local educational agency compliance under the PBMAS Indicator 10 may be resulting in districts' failure to identify and evaluate all students suspected of having a disability and who need special education," Sue Swenson, the department's acting assistant secretary for special education, wrote in a letter to the Texas Education Agency.
"Depending on TEA's response," Swenson wrote, the federal government "will determine whether additional monitoring activities or other administrative enforcement or corrective actions are necessary."
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/texas/article/Feds-order-Texas-to-eliminate-special-ed-caps-9648347.php