Last March, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) announced a conservatorship in Houston Independent School District (HISD) after the district consistently had low performance in student test scores. This stripped HISD’s elected board members of their power, and TEA’s new governing team became responsible for setting budgets and district-wide policies—a fate the Austin Independent School District (AISD) is at risk of facing.

As a last-ditch effort to avoid a conservatorship, on Sep. 25, 2023, AISD accepted a monitorship that will allow for TEA to monitor the district’s special education department to ensure AISD is meeting all the requirements. This will allow the TEA to monitor AISD’s progress and prevent AISD from falling under a conservatorship that grants the TEA the ability to direct staff and resources. The monitorship placed two monitors over the AISD special education department to oversee the completion of the special education evaluations, which allow students to have personalized education programs accustomed to their needs and ensure the staff members undergo extensive training.

This monitorship stems from the Individual Discipline with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) which has been in effect since 1975 and requires public schools to provide a free and appropriate public education to students with disabilities, according to the TEA. Under this act, a procedure is set for how the district is required to evaluate a student in order to create an Individualized Education Program (IEP), which outlines the student’s needs and develops a personalized program accordingly. Parents and educators have a right to request an evaluation under Child Find, a federal requirement that asks schools to identify students with special needs, and file a report within 45 days.

According to Jacob Reach, the AISD Chief of Governmental Relations and Board Services, an IEP is key to providing the help needed for the students. The first step to developing an IEP is identifying the student and evaluating the student’s needs.

“Evaluating [a student] tells us that they have these needs, and we believe that doing these other things will help address those needs,” Reach said. “We recognize that they may need extra support, and then we have a timeline to have that complete.”

This monitorship was offered as an alternative to the conservatorship, which AISD was concerned would have similar outcomes to the HISD’s conservatorship. According to an anonymous Central Texas teacher who has been teaching for around 10 years, though a monitorship still places a TEA-chosen monitor over the district, a conservatorship would be vastly different.

“The monitorship allows the school board to still have control,” the teacher said. “So the monitorship is way less restrictive than the conservatorship that was on the table.” 

The TEA and monitors require that teachers, counselors, administrators, and AISD staff partake in special education training that will strengthen all the special education required information. Cristina Torres, a counselor at LASA, found this training to be a good opportunity to refresh these topics for everyone.

“I think for a lot of people it might have been a while since they’ve done [training], and it’s helpful to review it,” Torres said. “So while it’s not necessarily new information for me right now, it’s a good reminder of things to make sure that we’re doing.”

Although the training is not challenging, according to Torres, there are still obstacles the staff has to overcome, the main one being the time required to finish this training. Even though there are professional development days to cover training modules, the staff members participating may also have to juggle answering emails or grading assignments lest they fall behind.

“One challenge sometimes is just making sure to make the time for it because I do want to do it with integrity,” Torres said. “And I want to do it right for the district. So [it is] finding the time to do that.” 

If all of the required AISD staff complete their modules, this could avert a conservatorship, which would take more control away from the district. As a former employee of the TEA, Reach can understand the importance the TEA is placing in the monitorship and having special education modules.

“[The] TEA is responsible for delivering and ensuring free and appropriate education for all Texas kids,” Reach said. “No matter where they’re at, they have that responsibility. I recognize that part of that responsibility is built into the Texas Constitution that requires the system to develop education.”

With the monitors having recently started and AISD staff working towards completing training modules, the estimation of this monitorship is at least two years, according to Reach.