Texas Illegally Excluded Thousands from Special Education, Federal Officials Say
January 11, 2018
By: Brian M. Rosenthal
Source: The New York Times
For years, Texas education officials illegally led schools across the state to deny therapy, tutoring and counseling to tens of thousands of children with disabilities, the federal government said Thursday.
In a letter to the Texas Education Agency, which oversees education in the state, regulators from the federal Department of Education said the state agency’s decision to set a “target” for the maximum percentage of students who should receive special education services had violated federal laws requiring schools to serve all students with disabilities.
The target, enacted in 2004 and eliminated last year, was set at 8.5 percent of enrollment…