Texas underfunds special education — and it's putting a strain on school districts' pockets

Shawnda Kracja doesn't want her daughter to be known as 'the deaf child'.

Kracja's daughter is an incoming third grader at Davis Elementary, which has operated a regional day school program for the deaf and hard of hearing for decades. But Davis' other deaf and hard of hearing students will move to Harrington Elementary for the 2025-2026 school year. The Plano ISD board of trustees recently voted to close Davis and three other schools, citing budget concerns.

Plano is one of many Texas school districts facing tough decisions due to funding shortages. Disability advocates say special education funding in Texas is about $2 billion short, leaving school districts footing the bill. And even wealthy districts are struggling to find the missing funds.

More students in Texas are enrolling in special education. Until 2018, Texas had a cap on special education enrollment of about 8.5 percent. Now that the cap has been lifted, Steven Aleman, a senior policy expert at Disability Rights Texas, said more students are enrolling in special education.

Special education students cost more to teach, which Aleman said should mean the state would give districts extra money to cover the extra costs. Districts typically get extra money for special education from state and federal dollars. But Aleman said the amount districts get from the state for special education isn’t enough to meet the growing need.

“There is a gap or a gap between what school districts are spending, what it collectively costs to educate students with disabilities, and what the state is taking responsibility for,” he said.

Aleman said the deficit is about $2 billion. In addition, Texas schools lost $300 million in federal special education funding funds at the end of last year. The Texas Health and Human Services Commission lost an appeal of a federal audit that concluded Medicaid was overcharging for special education.

Aleman said the loss of the federal check, on top of the state funding shortfall, is hurting districts' pocketbooks.

“Those federal and state reimbursements just can't sustain it,” he said.

Community integration

Liz Whitaker isn't deaf. But the upcoming fourth-grader has learned some sign language.

“So I could communicate better with my friends,” Whitaker said.

Kracja says the inclusive culture at Davis makes a difference for her daughter.

“My daughter is just one of the girls,” she said. “They don’t see her as, ‘Oh, that’s the deaf kid.’”

Kracja said it took years to build that campus culture, and moving the program to Harrington means starting over.

It’s not just about the students. Kracja said the teachers at Davis are used to the needs of deaf and hard-of-hearing students. Some have ASL interpreters. Others have hearing aids or cochlear implants that connect to a microphone worn by their teacher.

Sarah Wainscott, an assistant professor of deaf education at Texas Women's University, said it will be an adjustment for teachers at Harrington who have not worked with deaf and hard of hearing children. And Wainscott said it makes a difference when you have a teacher who understands the different needs of deaf and hard of hearing students.

“Having a teacher who knows these things intuitively based on experience is a game changer,” she said.

Higher costs

Additional money has been allocated in the state budget for regional day programs like the one at Davis Elementary. Districts that contribute dollars can send students to the nearby location that meets their needs if they don’t have a program. The special education funding those students receive follows them to the district where they go for the day school program.

Aleman said the money should in theory be enough to fund the day school program and meet the educational needs of deaf and hard of hearing students.

“That’s not the reality,” he said. “They’re being shortchanged just like every other student with disabilities in the state.”

There are not many students who are deaf or hard of hearing. About two to three out of every 1,000 children in the country are born with detectable hearing loss, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. That's why the program at Davis Elementary is active in so many districts.

But Wainscott says teaching deaf and hard of hearing students is more expensive.

“Our technology has gotten better and better, but it has also gotten more expensive,” she said.

Plano ISD said closing the schools was a difficult but necessary financial decision. The district has had a growing budget deficit since 2017. Plano ISD Chief Financial Officer Johnny Hill said during the meeting that closing the campuses will save the district about $5.2 million annually. Other savings include a one-time reduction of $20.1 million in capital expenditures and avoiding the cost of rebuilding the four campuses, which would have cost at least $340 million. The four schools were all built in the 1970s.

Plano ISD is located in an area with a lot of real estate, but it doesn’t get to keep all of the property tax dollars it collects. The state sets a certain amount that school districts get per student. It’s called the base allotment. It’s about $6,160 per student. Students with special education needs typically receive additional dollars through a supplemental allotment.

Any additional money Plano ISD receives will be sent to the Texas Education Agency, where it will be redistributed to school districts with less real estate.

The base grant has not been increased since 2019. But Plano ISD Superintendent Dr. Theresa Williams said at a recent school board meeting that inflation has increased the district’s spending.

“From compensating our employees to rising construction costs, the cost of materials, resources, insurance, protection and utilities, the cost of doing business today cannot be adequately covered by the 2019 budget,” Williams said.

There was a bill in the Texas House of Representatives during the last legislative session that would have increased the base allocation. Aleman said the bill also included changes to the state’s special education funding formula, something he said Disability Rights Texas has been advocating for. He said the current formula is too complex and outdated.

The bill failed to pass after the House of Representatives adopted amendment to remove school voucher funding from the law. Gov. Greg Abbott said he would veto any education funding legislation that did not include money for what he calls “school choice.”

According to Aleman, Abbott's political differences over vouchers held up the law.

“If he didn't get that, nothing would change in the school's funding,” Aleman said.

A far-reaching problem

Plano-ISD is not only in his struggles. School districts in Irving and Richardson also recently closed schools due to declining enrollment. Fewer children in classes means less money from the state and more empty desks. Hill said too many open spaces in schools is inefficient — the schools can’t offer certain programs because there aren’t enough students, and the district ends up paying for more facilities than it needs.

Plano ISD's enrollment has dropped by 7,700 students over the past 12 years. And Hill said it's expected to continue to drop by more than 3,000 students over the next five years. There are currently about 18,000 open spots in Plano schools. Hill said that if the district does nothing, that could increase to 21,500 open spots.

“That's just not sustainable in the long run,” he said.

The closing of the campuses was an emotional moment. Parents wearing Davis Elementary shirts walked out of the school board meeting in tears after trustees voted unanimously to close the four campuses.

Even school board president Nancy Humphrey shed a tear.

“I'm sorry,” Humphrey said, a lump forming in his throat before the board vote. “I'm only human.”

They think of children like Liz Whitaker.

“I don't think we should close Davis because we have a great community with a lot of great people,” Whitaker said.

But as costs rise and funding stagnates, school districts will still face tough choices, even wealthy districts like Plano ISD.

Dylan M. Rafaty, president and CEO of the North Texas Disability Chamber, said he understands parents’ concerns about closing Davis Elementary. But Rafaty, who is deaf in his right ear and partially deaf in his left, said the rest of the world is not as inclusive as Davis.

“I encourage those parents to understand that the more you integrate into society, the harder it gets,” Rafaty said.

The Plano West graduate said he is confident the district will do everything it can to ease the transition for Davis families. And he said the best way to rebuild the culture in Davis is for deaf and hard of hearing students to learn to advocate for themselves.

“We want to be part of our community,” Rafaty said. “We want to be involved. We just need the support of the people around us to understand us, welcome us and accept us.”

Have a tip? Email Caroline Love at clove@kera.org.

Caroline Love is a Report for America corps member for KERA News.

KERA News is made possible by the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, please consider make a tax-deductible donation today. Thank you.