The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights has opened an investigation into Houston ISD after the state’s largest district began to centralize its special education department.
HISD announced Wednesday that students in some special education programs would move to 150 designated campuses next school year as the district relocates and consolidates classes, leaving parents scrambling and advocates concerned. On Friday, the civil rights department said it would investigate whether HISD’s move violates federal laws barring discrimination against students with disabilities.
“Schools cannot exclude students with disabilities simply because of their disability status. Placement decisions must be made individually, based on each student’s needs, rather than by blanket policies that segregate students by disability category,” Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said in a statement. “The allegations described here are alarming. The Trump Administration will fully investigate this situation and fight to ensure every child with a disability receives the education and support guaranteed under the law.
”Under federal law, school districts are prohibited from discriminating on the basis of disability. The federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act also requires students to be taught in the least restrictive classroom conducive to their disability, which Houston-area parents and advocates warned would be jeopardized under the new plan.
In a statement, the federal civil rights department said families were concerned that their students would spend less time in general education classrooms and more time in self-contained rooms than their peers. Parents were also concerned about longer commutes to the proposed specialty schools, which could be challenging for children with certain medical and behavioral needs.
HISD did not immediately respond to a request for comment. HISD Deputy Superintendent Kristen Hole said on the district’s broadcast channel Wednesday that the plan to centralize some services would increase choice and “access to services across the district.”
The Trump administration and “civil rights enforcement” go together like peanut butter and rusty nails that have been dipped in arsenic, so to say the least it’s hard to judge how serious any of this is. While special education hasn’t been one of the Trumpist hobby horses, any right-thinking person would question their commitment as well as their ability to competently prosecute the matter, given that it’s likely anyone with experience or interest in civil rights will surely have fled the scene. I’m drafting this based on the early version of the story, so there may be more details by the time you read this, and of course we’ll know more sooner or later. For sure, this change seems like a significant disruption for parents of existing special ed kids in HISD, so I’m sure they’re happy to see some action being taken, however questionable the source. And for the million and twenty-seventh time, isn’t it just dandy that we have Mike Miles in charge of HISD? What would we ever do without him?
HISD under Mike Miles have been habitually violating special education laws. I filed two special education complaints against HISD that were substantiated by TEA. My members have filed TEA complaints which have also been substantiated. Special Education violations have been going on since Miles came. I have been telling parents to seek legal counsel. I don’t have faith in the Department of Education.