OCR Opens Investigation Into Houston Independent School District's Special Education Overhaul
Another Decade, Another Instance of Massive Special Education Issues in Texas
May 8, 2026: U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) opened a disability discrimination investigation into Houston Independent School District (HISD).
The announcement came about a week after leaked drafts for HISD’s “Special Education Success Programs” were made public by local news outlets, and just days after HISD announced the program publicly.
According to OCR, the allegations involve HISD “centralizing certain special education services and proposing to separate students with disabilities from the larger student population beginning in the 2026-27 school year, despite parental concerns that their children should be in general education classrooms where their social skills improve more significantly around their peers.” OCR also noted parent concerns about students facing longer transportation times, which “would be challenging for children with medical and behavioral needs.”
“Schools cannot exclude students with disabilities simply because of their disability status. Placement decisions must be made individually, based on each student’s needs, rather than by blanket policies that segregate students by disability category.”
~Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey
Leaked Documents & What HISD Says Its Doing
According to Houston Chronicle, HISD Deputy Superintendent Kristen Hole indicated that “While most of the district’s roughly 20,000 special education students will remain at their current schools, some students who spend most of their day in self-contained classrooms may transfer to one of 150 designated campuses next year as the district relocates and consolidates classes.”
In an earlier article, Houston Chronicle reported parent concerns that the plan could segregate students with disabilities and move them far from home. It shared the following quote from David DeMatthews, an associate professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy at the University of Texas at Austin:
“This really is kind of re-institutionalizing kids,” DeMatthews said. “Children who have those disabilities are going to live in a world where there are people without disabilities. We intentionally build classrooms within neighborhood schools so students with more severe disabilities can get what they need in a very targeted way.”
The district says its “Special Education Success Programs” will “support students whose Individualized Education Program requires a self‑contained setting, including Early Childhood Special Education, Skills for Living and Learning, Structured Learning Classroom–Alternate, Structured Learning Classroom–Standard, and Behavior Support Class programs.”
Not HISD’s—or Texas Education Agency’s—First Time on U.S. Department of Education’s Radar
This is not the first time federal officials have had to look hard at special education in Texas.
Texas Education Agency
In 2016, Houston Chronicle launched its series “Denied: How Texas keeps tens of thousands of children out of special education”, shining a light on massive state-wide systemic noncompliance.
In 2017, United States Department of Education (ED) “issued a proposed determination that Texas is not eligible for a portion of a future section 611 grant under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), in the amount of $33,302,428, because it did not meet its obligation to maintain State financial support for special education and related services in State fiscal year (SFY) 2012. 20 U.S.C. §1412(a)(18)(A)–(B) and (d)(2).”
October 1, 2021, ED’s Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) issued two Differentiated Monitoring Support (DMS) letters to Texas Education Agency (TEA), addressing the state’s continued noncompliance.
In its letter regarding the state’s corrective action response, OSEP states:
“Over the last three years, OSEP has communicated with TEA about, and reviewed documents regarding, TEA’s continued noncompliance with IDEA requirements related to child find, the provision of a free appropriate public education (FAPE), and the exercise of TEA’s general supervision and monitoring responsibilities. OSEP has carefully reviewed the actions TEA has taken toward correcting the identified noncompliance . . .
“Based on this, OSEP concludes that the State has not completed all the required actions necessary to address the findings of longstanding noncompliance. . . .
“As a result of the longstanding nature of the State’s noncompliance with these critical IDEA requirements, OSEP is designating TEA’s FFY 2021 IDEA Part B grant award as subject to specific conditions, pursuant to our authority under 2 C.F.R. 200.208 and sections 603 and 616(g) of IDEA.”
In its letter regarding the maintenance of state financial support of special education, OSEP states:
Texas is not eligible for a portion of a future section 611 grant under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), in the amount of $33,302,428, because it did not meet its obligation to maintain State financial support for special education and related services in State fiscal year (SFY) 2012. 20 U.S.C. §1412(a)(18)(A)–(B) and (d)(2). The purpose of this current letter is to inform you that the determination is now final, and the Department will reduce Texas’s IDEA section 611 award in a future Federal fiscal year due to the State’s failure to maintain State financial support for special education and related services in SFY 2012. The issuance of this final determination was delayed because of discussions between the Department and the Texas Education Agency (TEA) regarding TEA’s settlement proposal, which had initially included the SFY 2012 shortfall.TEA denied that it had capped special education services, telling the U.S. Department of Education that it had never set a cap or limit on the number or percentage of Texas students receiving special education.
In 2022, OSEP was still imposing specific conditions on Texas’s IDEA Part B grant. OSEP said that the noncompliance dated back to the February 2017 monitoring visit and January 2018 findings, and that TEA had not taken all necessary actions to correct previously identified noncompliance.
In June 2023, OSEP stated “Texas has resolved the Specific Conditions imposed on TEA’s FFY 2022 IDEA Part B grant award” and in July 2023, advised Texas:
“We have approved Texas’s application for Federal fiscal year (FFY) 2023 funds under Part B or the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA Part B).”
HISD
TEA’s Intervention
TEA itself had already taken issue with HISD’s special education system.
Since June 1, 2023, HISD has been governed by a TEA-appointed Board of Managers, and Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath appointed Mike Miles as superintendent.
According to TEA, in December 2020, it appointed a Special Education Conservator Team to address HISD’s “systematic SpEd failures.”
In a March 15, 2023, letter to HISD, Morath announced TEA’s intent to appoint a Board of Managers and mentioned TEA first notified HISD in 2019 that it intended to appoint a Board of Managers and superintendent, but a court injunction blocked that action until the Texas Supreme Court vacated the injunction. He also said:
“The district’s approach to supporting students with disabilities also continues to violate state and federal law. Starting with internal reviews going back to 2011, there has long been recognition from Houston ISD itself of problems in this area. Substantive action was not taken until a management team of conservators was appointed. Since then, Houston ISD has seen some improvements related to basic Child Find obligations. But there are still significant systemic compliance problems, including an ongoing inability to provide special education services to students without delays, which harms their academic progress.”
May 30, 2025, Morath said:
“Under current district leadership, the future of the district is bright. However, even though the district has made significant progress toward meeting its exit criteria, the district has not yet met any of the three specific requirements. Accordingly, I am hereby extending the authority of the board of managers for two additional years, until June 1, 2027.
“On or around June 1, 2027, I will announce the transition timeline for the return of elected trustees to the district’s governing board, as is required by law. Ultimately, two years has not been enough time to fix district systems that were broken for decades. The extension of this intervention will allow the district to build on its progress and achieve lasting success for students once the board transitions back to elected leadership.” [emphasis added]
So . . .
TEA says special education compliance is one of the conditions for returning HISD to elected local control. Yet OCR is now investigating allegations that HISD’s current special education restructuring discriminates against students with disabilities.
This is notable because this is not happening in a district operating under ordinary local governance. It is happening under state-appointed leadership that was supposed to help fix HISD’s special education problems.
AND: OCR just opened what smells like a similar investigation into New Home Independent School District in Texas a few weeks back
OCR
Below are a few examples of past OCR investigations into HISD.
In one HISD investigation, OCR determined:
“HISD discriminated against the Student on the basis of disability by failing to provide him with an aid, benefit, or service that was as effective as that provided to others, failing to furnish appropriate auxiliary aids and services where necessary to afford the Student an equal opportunity to participate in, and enjoy the benefits of, a service, program, or activity of a public entity, and by failing to give primary consideration to the Student’s request for XXXX XXXX as required by the regulations implementing Title II.”
In the resolution agreement for another OCR investigation, HISD agreed to invite a student to re-enroll, conduct a Section 504 evaluation, and have a knowledgeable group determine whether compensatory or remedial services were needed “as a result of the HISD’s failure to provide services determined necessary for the Student under Section 504 during the 2015-2016 school year.”
In the resolution agreement for yet another OCR investigation, HISD agreed to convene an ARD committee to determine whether a student needed compensatory or remedial educational services “as a result of any failure to provide appropriate regular and/or special education or related services in his [**redacted**] classes during the 2016-2017 school year”
Another HISD OCR resolution agreement required training on Section 504 and Title II obligations to provide FAPE, respond to disability-based harassment, and prohibit retaliation against people who raise disability discrimination complaints, and to “convene a meeting of a group of persons knowledgeable about the Student to determine whether the Student needs compensatory and/or remedial services as a result of the following incidents in the 2016-2017 school year: 1) any failure to provide the Student with related aids and services necessary to meet the Student’s educational needs; 2) any disability based harassment suffered by the Student from students, faculty, and/or administrators at the School; and 3) any threats of discipline against the Student by the School’s Assistant Principal.”
In the resolution agreement for a directed investigation involving website accessibility, HISD agreed “to ensure that individuals with disabilities have an equal opportunity to participate in the District's programs and activities offered through the District's website by making the online content and functionality accessible,1 or, if necessary, providing equally effective alternate access.”
Final Words
OCR opening an investigation within about a week of local reporting on leaked draft documents is a good sign that OCR is paying attention to disability discrimination concerns in real time.
Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey’s role is worth watching. ED’s current leadership directory lists her as Assistant Secretary for OCR and Assistant Secretary for OSERS (which includes OSEP). ED also states that Richey previously served at the Department from 2017 to 2021—during the years of ED’s previous investigations into Texas. She’s definitely not coming to Texas oversight cold.
Additional Reading:
