Texas Standard

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has opened an investigation into Houston ISD to determine whether the district is violating the rights of students with disabilities after it unveiled plans to restructure the way special education services are delivered.

This week, after Houston Public Media reported on leaked draft documents outlining their plan, district leaders confirmed they planned to consolidate special education services to certain campuses beginning in 2026-27. The move would require some students to be transferred from their neighborhood school to another school in the district that would be tapped as a hub to provide a variety of special education services.

“Public schools are required – to the maximum extent appropriate — to ensure that children with disabilities are educated alongside their nondisabled peers and to follow specific procedures when making placement decisions about how and where children with disabilities are educated,” the education department stated in a Friday news release announcing the investigation.

Houston ISD, the largest school district in Texas that has been under state control since 2023, defended its forthcoming changes in a Friday night statement while noting that 15,000 of its more than 21,000 students in special education “are served in inclusive settings.” The district also said that for the roughly 5,000 students “primarily served in self-contained settings, families can expect small class sizes, low adult-to-student ratios to support specialized instruction, and placement with similar-age peers.” HISD added that special education services will be available at more than half of its campuses.