Funding is not keeping up with the actual costs of meeting the vast needs of nearly 800,000 Texas students enrolled in special education programs. According to TEA data, there is a $2.2 billion difference between the funding provided for special education and the actual cost of providing those services. As a result, school districts face some difficult choices about how much money to pull away from other student programs and priorities in order to meet the needs of students enrolled in special ed.
School districts in Texas have also lost hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding for special education through a program called School Health and Related Services, or SHARS. The state Health and Human Services Commission was slow to communicate with school districts about the funding clawback, which has created budget challenges for districts.
Since the 2014-15 school year, the number of students served through special education has increased 72%, according to the Texas Education Agency, which is a greater increase than the growth in overall student enrollment. This growth has put more demand on education funding at a time when inflation has driven routine operating costs higher. Increasing state special education funding would allow legislators to put more resources into public schools and support some of the most needed services that schools provide.
For more information, please see our one-page issue brief on special education funding in Texas. Please share this resource with legislators, community members, and others.
