Special Education Updates with Kristin McGuire: 2025-2026 Webinar

Good afternoon, and welcome to today's statewide webinar hosted by SpedTech's and Partners Resource Network. My name is Sarah Untersi, and I am part of the SpedTech's team. The topic for today's webinar is special education updates with Kristen McGuire. A few reminders. This webinar is being recorded and it will be posted to our SpedTech site. It usually takes about a week in order for that to be posted, but we will drop our website link in the chat so that you are able to access that once it becomes available. The chat feature today is only available if you require technical assistance. However, you may put questions in the Q and A section. The presenters will review your submissions which will help us with clarifications and FAQs in the future, but there will be no live Q and A today. SPED TEX is the special education information center for Texas. We are a collaborative project between Region ten Education Service Center and Texas Education Agency. We help parents understand their rights and responsibilities under IDEA and facilitate collaboration when there are concerns between the parent and the school district. We also serve as a resource for educators. We offer support via phone, email, or live chat for families and professionals. We have webinars like this one throughout the year, and we also have many resources available. Our contact information is on the screen. I'm now going to turn it over to Stephanie McLaughlin to share some additional information about Partners Resource Network. Thank you, Gracie. Hello, I am Stephanie McLaughlin, the Training and Evaluation Specialist for Partners Resource Network. Partners Resource Network is the nonprofit agency that operates the Texas statewide network of parent training and information centers. We are funded through the Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs. You may be more familiar with us by our projects throughout Texas known as PACT, PATH, HEN and TEAM. Our mission at Partners Resource Network is to empower and support Texas families and individuals impacted by disabilities and special health care needs. We do this through a network of highly skilled, regionally located coordinators who are knowledgeable in local policies, services, and resources, as well as state and national guidelines. We provide training, information, and one on one assistance at no cost to Texas families and youth. We serve parents of children and youth with disabilities from birth to age twenty six, as well as youth self advocates between the ages of fourteen and twenty six. All of our services are provided in both English and Spanish. We are excited to welcome our presenter, Kristen McGuire. Kristen is the Interim Deputy Commissioner of the Office of Special Populations and Student Support at the Texas Education Agency. She is joining us today to discuss special education updates based on legislation passed during the eighty ninth Texas Legislature regular session. At this time, I will stop sharing, and I am going to turn it over to Kristen. Alright. Thanks, Sarah. I will get my screen ready here. Alright. Well, I appreciate you having me today. And, yes, I'm going to go through just an overview of some of the legislation that passed during the eighty ninth session. We just, you know, recently wrapped up the last special session of the eighty ninth, and so we're gonna talk about bills that passed during the regular session that ended at the end of May. So some of these bills, we do have the agency has released specific guidance on. Others, we are getting there as we go. So I do want to point you to in the direction of this special education back to school update if you are not familiar with it. So you can find that at tea. Texas dot gov slash texas sped. And if you go to the button that says webinars and newsletters, you can find this document there. So that is primarily what I'm going to go over and then go over a few other bills that we did not mention in our back to school update. So we will go ahead and get started. So we had actually a lot of legislation that passed this session that affects students with disabilities. And so I wanted to highlight some of the a few of the funding changes made primarily by House Bill two that impact special education. So first, just wanted to mention that local educational agencies, which are districts and charter schools, typically we call them LEAs for short, they will now receive one thousand dollars for each initial special education evaluation that they complete. The reasoning behind that is, of course, to help offset some of the costs of those evaluations as there is no direct funding stream to help fund those evaluations. So those amounts will start to be coming through to LEA's accounts based on the numbers that were completed in the twenty four-twenty five school year. And then secondly, what we call the CCMR outcomes bonus, that's the college career and military readiness bonus. So there are provisions with graduates that reach certain levels or certain criteria. The districts or the LEA receives particular funds if they meet that criteria. And so who were served by those graduates who were served by special education, if they meet that requirement, that bonus has increased from two thousand to four thousand per eligible student. And then the mileage reimbursement for special education transportation increased from one point eight dollars per mile to one point one three dollars per mile. So those are three of kind of the most immediate funding impacts. Next is regional day school programs for the deaf. So these are options for students who are deaf and hard of hearing. They used to be paid an allotment through or an appropriation through a budget writer. That has now been moved to more of an entitlement through chapter forty eight of the Texas Education Code. And so students who receive services through those programs will receive at least six thousand nine hundred and twenty five dollars per student. That is in addition and separate from the special the state special education allotment that those students would generate. And so the fiscal agents will receive those funds, and that is also starting to be put into LEA's accounts here by tomorrow, I think. And then effective September first of twenty twenty six, there is a change. So we've had a dyslexia allotment for quite a few years now. There is a change effective in September twenty six that just essentially removes a cap or a percentage cap as to how much LEAs can spend on private providers or to contract for private services for those students who are receiving services for dyslexia. And then obviously, what's most substantial with HB2 changes is beginning in the 'twenty six, 'twenty seven school year, we will completely change the way the state funds special education. So currently, we have what's called an instructional arrangement type model. So it's where the student is that sort of generates the funding. The change that will be effective in 'twenty six, 'twenty seven is what we're calling a service intensity model. So in this case, it doesn't matter where the student is sitting as they are receiving those special education services. What matters is the intensity of those services. So whether they are in a general education classroom, a special education classroom, or another setting, it is primarily the services that they need that are decided by in their IEPs that will trigger the special education funding from the state. And so more information on that will be shared as we shape that that process and that calculation as we engage in that this fall. Okay. So another change also made by house Bill two, is that now candidates who are looking to take the special education certification exam or bilingual, but in our case for today's audience, of course, we want to focus on special education certification, that cost is now waived as well as the application fee. So both of those are waived, and you can find information about that if you have an educator or an educator candidate who is interested on our website regarding those fee waivers. And then also, again, in House Bill two, another thing that was passed is that at least once per year, a board of a school district or an open enrollment charter school governing board has to specifically discuss the performance of students receiving special education services. So one thing that the agency has to do is adopt a certain performance indicators that must be discussed during that meeting. Many of your districts and charter schools do this anyway, and they do it regularly, but it was important to the legislature to just make sure that they say, you know, everyone has to focus specifically on outcomes of students receiving special education services at least once per year in a board meeting. And so we will be adopting some rules to put those performance indicators in place. Next is around what are called non educational community based support services. So this, has been in statute, for many years. However, House Bill two made some shifts, to this statute to change this more to a grant for parents to access. So it's still narrowed to particular eligible students, but it will be able to be accessed by those parents of eligible students rather than having to go through their school district or the charter school and to kind of have that LEA be sort of the liaison between the service and the service that's needed and the payment for those services. So the hope is that this would, once it is launched and kind of reorganized and revamped, that it will be easier for those eligible parents to access these services. And you can see some of the other changes here on your screen about these. So because we have to adopt some rules around this program and to set up kind of accessing the grants. We have to do that first before we can launch sort of this revamped program. So that is coming as we get our rules adopted. Next, I want to mention a couple of new AHRD committee responsibilities. Your admission review and dismissal committees, your IEP teams, They have a couple of new specific responsibilities in certain circumstances. So this first one that we'll mention is around when students are initially determined eligible for special education under the categories of intellectual disability or developmental delay. An ARD committee needs to give to a student's parent information about their local intellectual and developmental disability authority, or LITA. And with that information is also information about various state waiver programs, And the reason behind this, of course, is that these state programs very often have a lengthy waitlist, and so the earlier that parents know about these programs and can figure out if their child is eligible, and if they are interested in those, obviously the better. We were charged to work with Health and Human Services Commission to develop materials to be used for this, and that is now created and published. That is available to ARD committees to give out to parents. Then second is when residential placement is being discussed by ARD committees. The ARD committee has to give parent information that's developed from the Health and Human Services Commission around residential placement options for children who might also qualify for placement at a state supported living center. And so Health and Human Services Commission is working with us to finalize that information, and we expect that to be available sometime soon. All right, and then back to some a House Bill two change is around graduating with a distinguished level of achievement. Several years ago, there was a bill that passed that would allow students receiving special education services to earn an endorsement with or without modified curriculum. And so since that was passed, there's been kind of this lingering question of, well, does that also apply to the distinguished level of achievement? Because there's just a couple of more steps in relation to after earning an endorsement to be able to graduate with a distinguished level of achievement. So the House Bill two change here clarified that, yes, they could earn that distinguished level of achievement if the art committee determines that modified curriculum was sufficiently rigorous, and so that decision would be made by them. And then student discipline. Several bills impact how schools will address student discipline. I will tell you House Bill six is probably the largest one or the most impactful, And so that's one of the primary bills that will change how districts handle and address student discipline. And so one of the, of course, responsibilities for our LEAs, our charters and school districts, is to just ensure that discipline for students with disabilities also follows federal and other state law in relation to any disciplinary actions and placements. Excuse me. So we did publish a to the administrator addressed letter on House Bill six and other discipline related legislation on August fourteenth that you can access it as well. I will tell you also that we are working to obviously, this goes with any of these changes, but with any of our resources at the agency that need to be revised because of legislation. One of those, of course, in this topic is our discipline flowchart for students with disabilities as well as our behavior support guide for students with disabilities. Those are in process of being updated, and of course, we're trying to hurry as quickly as possible to get those and other resources revised so that we can get those published to align with current law. All right. So another bill which you may have heard about is the implementation of House Bill fourteen eighty one. So this is around the use of personal communication devices. So there is a definition in the statute of a personal communication device. Typically, we kind of you know, most people are referring to these as cell phones. Could be any, you know, like Bluetooth earbuds potentially as well, could be personally owned laptops or tablets. So TEA was required to develop model policy language around this prohibition of use of personal communication devices during the school day. Now, I wanted to point out, of course, there are three separate sort of exceptions to this prohibition. One of those is because, of course, the student may have a necessary accommodation in their Section five zero four plan or their IEP that allows for the use of a personal communication device during the school day, so that is an exception specifically allowed under the statute. The second is if a student has some kind of documented need based on a physician directive. And then the third would be if there's some kind of health or safety requirement or within the district's safety protocols that would allow for the use of personal communication devices. So one thing that I wanted to point out and that I had, you know, that I've been kind of hearing about is that it's come to our attention that some schools might be sort of combining those first two exceptions. So sometimes what we've heard is that districts are asking for a physician note even with a decision that it would be a necessary accommodation in a five zero four plan or IEP, but that's not they do not go together. Those are three separate and distinct exceptions to the prohibition on use. So you would if they have that as a need within their IEP or five zero four plan, there is no need to get further documentation as long as those committees and teams agree that that's necessary. All right. And then next, what I wanted to bring up is Senate Bill fifty seven. So this is going to so we are going to revise guidelines that we created after last session around ensuring the safety of students and staff with disabilities during emergencies or disasters. Essentially, what Senate Bill fifty seven added is making sure basically that if a student needs some kind of accommodation during a mandatory school drill or a disaster or an emergency, that there are guidelines and protocols in place for the communication between the administrators and staff and, of course, the safety and security committee who's responsible for developing a district's emergency operations plan, just making sure that accommodations are discussed and people know which students require certain accommodations during these types of events. And so we are about to get together with a group of stakeholders that helped us with the original guidelines after last session to kind of work on updates that will be required from there. And then some special education representation on certain committees or teams. So legislation now requires that someone with knowledge of the student's disability be a part of a threat assessment team. So if a team is gathered together because of certain actions of a student that requires the completion of a threat assessment and that student happens to receive special education services, someone on that team they need to bring someone with knowledge of that student and how the student's disability manifests on that team as they complete the threat assessment. And then additionally, a district administrator of special education also needs to serve on that safety and security committee, which we just mentioned is responsible for kind of the development and implementation of emergency operations plans. Excuse me again. Okay. Next will be about student absences. So these aren't obviously exclusive to students with disabilities or anything, but just wanted to point them out. Senate Bill two zero seven, there is an existing statute that allows for sort of temporary absences if a student needs to leave for an appointment, for a health care appointment. Senate Bill two zero seven just clarifies that this also could include mental health care as well as physical. And then HB three sixty seven, again, existing statute talks about excused absences when a student has a sort of life threatening or serious illness. And so what HP three sixty seven did was basically said, Okay, you know, districts, charters, here's the information that a doctor would need to certify. Adopt a form accordingly. Can't require more than that, but just here's the information that you need in order to excuse absences for that purpose. And then you will hear quite a bit more about this in the coming months and through next school year, I imagine, is House Bill two made some changes around some existing kind of early reading instruments. So we will now have these sort of literacy and numeracy assessments in kindergarten through grade three that will measure kind of foundational literacy and numeracy skills. And so those are going to be instruments that are approved by the commissioner. So obviously, still work to do in terms of kind of soliciting vendors for that and making sure we have minimum standards that are required for that. One of the changes in this, too, is that because we also have this existing requirement to screen students in kindergarten and grade one for dyslexia, these instruments will also be used for that purpose. So there is obviously the tie in to not just measure foundational literacy, but also any risk of dyslexia, and so these will be used for screeners for that purpose, for kindergarten and grade one. A couple of changes in relation to dispute resolution processes. So there is obviously the allowance under statute for non attorney representatives to represent a parent and student in a due process hearing. There was some existing law around kind of ensuring that that non attorney representative had knowledge of the process hearing process. What the change in House Bill two is is to just ensure that these types, these representatives know about all dispute resolution options. So there are several dispute resolution options within federal and state law, and so this would be just kind of an assurance that they are aware of all of those options. One of the options also around statewide IEP facilitation. So statewide IEP facilitation is a mechanism in place that can be used for dispute resolution. The change made in House Bill two would allow this to be used kind of prior to a dispute actually occurring. So maybe there's a disagreement, an ARB committee meeting ends in disagreement, state IEP facilitation could be used after that rather than a formal sort of dispute having already occurred. So we will revise our rules for that and operate and make that available. Apparently there's allergies or something in the air today. My apologies. All right. And then next is a new deaf and hard of hearing, visually impaired, and deaf blind statewide plan. So quite a few changes to some existing statute in House Bill two around services for students who are deaf or hard of hearing, those who have visual impairments, or those who are deaf blind. One of those is of the significant changes that I'm looking forward to is gathering stakeholders to to create a new statewide plan for services for these students so that we can gather, obviously, various stakeholders to figure out what the agency should focus on and how we can help the field with services for these students. Another change around deaf or hard of hearing is that for several years, there has been some data collection required around language acquisition for children who are deaf or hard of hearing, eight years old and younger. And these were assessments that were approved by several state agencies, one of those including TEA. So HB2 transitioned that a little bit to make sure or to to have the commissioner, and the agency be responsible for those assessments, and then report that data through, obviously, our state, PIMS system. And then, once we start seeing those results, because we now have, I think, three or four reports, annual reports of the of of of this, we will then be required to kind of use the results of this to prioritize what kind of grants or opportunities need to be available to the field to improve those outcomes. And then education savings accounts, that is through Senate Bill two. So we have House Bill two and Senate Bill two. So Senate Bill two are the education savings accounts. Those will begin in the 'twenty six-'twenty seven school year. One of the specific tie ins to students with disabilities is that students with disabilities who would be eligible for special education services or were eligible if they were in public school prior are entitled to the same amount of state special education funding when they use an education savings account as they received in a public school, or if they haven't ever been in a public school, what they would receive in a public school. So one of the responsibilities of the agency, obviously, is to give our districts guidance on what does that look like specifically for a child who has never enrolled in public school but is later identified as a child with disability and will access that education savings account. So we are working on that and hope to have guidance on that soon. A few other bills that were not in our back to school document, but I did want to just make sure and highlight. Senate Bill five sixty nine is around virtual and hybrid learning. So this is we'll end up having, I think, a two year runway. So this school year and next school year, we will still have the Texas Virtual School Network, which has been in existence for several years, But that will fade away. And districts, each sort of individual district now has, you know, some authority to establish either hybrid programs or full time virtual campuses or programs in some aspects. And so the agency will be working on rulemaking around, you know, what does that look like, how do districts get approval, how do they take attendance, for example, so that they can receive state funding. And so that, I think, is definitely something to watch for, in particular, for students with disabilities. Obviously, any virtual program would still need to be capable of adhering to IEPs and five zero four plans, but definitely something to watch as those kinds of programs roll out. And then Senate Bill eleven ninety one is around GPA calculations. So this is grade point averages. So this is just something to be aware of. This this is something in statute that was always sort of voluntary or discretionary for the commissioner to do is to develop a standard method for high schools to use for calculation of grade point averages, and now it was changed to require the commissioner to do that. So I imagine that will probably be done sometime around this spring so that districts would start using that next year. So that is just sort of an FYI for you to watch for. And then House Bill two thousand three hundred ten is around the agency working with other agencies and stakeholders to develop a strategic plan for improving and expanding the options for young children with disabilities. And so that is one on the top of my list that I keep getting others on top of, but that is one thing one of those that we will start engaging in here shortly to kind of get our scope of work drafted and start working on that one. So that one will be exciting to obviously work with a group of stakeholders on. And then Senate Bill nine ninety one requires the agency to track chronic absenteeism and truancy, and it also adds those students who are chronically absent to the sort of categories of what are considered at risk students. And to that end, that means essentially that districts have to provide what's kind of called accelerated services or accelerated instruction for services who are considered at risk. And so these chronically absent is essentially those who miss more than ten percent of the days that a class is offered. So we will start we've always kind of tracked that for federal purposes, but this just kind of puts us sort of as a state focus. And then, honestly, finally, I just kind of always end with our data because you can see over the years, have continued to increase recently in the numbers of students identified as receiving special education and related services. So we, as of the 'twenty four-'twenty five school year, students identified make up about fifteen point five percent of the total population of students in Texas. So we continue to, at the agency level, of course, focus on how we can help assist parents and students and educators in the field and appreciate any kind of feedback or questions that we can, you know, help you all with, and I'm excited to continue to implement this you know, all of the legislation. I would encourage you to check the sort of main website, the tea. Texas dot gov website. You'll see kind of an eighty ninth legislature page advertised on the home page. You can always check that for sort of new guidance that is distributed, and we will, of course, come back as we can. So appreciate your time. Thank you so much, Kristen. We appreciate you being here so much, sharing this valuable information with all of our families. Just going to wrap up. So we are going to go back to Stephanie McLaughlin to share some additional information about Partners Resource Network. Thank you, Sarah. As a reminder, our regional coordinators are available to help you understand and navigate the special education process. If you are not already connected with your regional coordinator, give us a call and we can get you connected. For more information, please be sure to check out our website at prntexas dot org, and you can also follow us on social media on Facebook and X at prntexas. Have questions about special education? Contact us at Stex, your source for special education information. We are happy to help. Our contact information is on the screen.