It was three years ago that the Texas Education Agency was forced to step in to address a backlog of hundreds of special education evaluations in the Austin Independent School District. The state found that Austin ISD repeatedly failed to meet required deadlines for those evaluations, with some students waiting as long as nine months to get one.
That prompted the TEA to install monitors in the district to make sure that the backlog was cleared, and that students were getting timely evaluations moving forward.
This week, AISD officials announced that the district is no longer under the watchful eye of the TEA.
Superintendent Matias Segura said they significantly increased the special education team, launched a new digital management platform to ensure timely reporting, and hosted dozens of family engagement sessions to strengthen trust among families.
Segura said being released from TEA oversight is a major milestone, but also said there is still plenty of work left to be done.
