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Using $30 Million in Federal COVID-19 Funding
Special-Ed Grant Initiative Allows Parents
To Control What Services are Funded
A new initiative announced (Oct. 21) by the governor and TEA to use federal COVID-19 funds to provide online accounts for parents to use on behalf of their children with disabling conditions to provide them with needed services drew mixed reviews from education and disability rights advocates.
The plan, briefly stated, would provide online accounts — worth $1,500 per eligible child (or more or less, as explained later in this article) — to pay for TEA-authorized services as designated by the parent.
To pay for the new Supplementary Special Education Services (SSES) program, Gov. Abbott is allocating $30 million of the $370 million from federal COVID-19 CARES Act Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) funds.
The Association of Texas Professional Educators criticized the initiative (in a press release) as “a voucher program” and argued that the COVID-19 relief funding should flow more equitably to school districts that already have an obligation under federal law to provide for the educational needs of students with disabilities, including paying for the supplemental services for these students.
Clay Robinson of the Texas State Teachers Association told the Dallas Morning News that the scope of the program is “very limited.”
“The needs of Texas’ special education school children are much greater. We hope the state at some point contributes more,” Robinson said.
Although Dustin Rynders, an attorney for the Disability Rights Texas advocacy group, agreed, in an interview with the Austin American-Statesman, that “while $1,500 can go quite quickly for paying for specialized therapy for a child with a disability, it can also make a difference.”
But Gov. Abbott, in announcing the initiative, called the program a “win for Texas families and children with special education needs, many of whom have endured education disruptions due to COVID-19.”
“Low Incidence” Disability
A TEA FAQ document says that eligible students are defined as being enrolled this school year and were enrolled last school year during the initial COVID-19 school shutdown — and are identified as having a “low incidence” disability (such as an intellectual disability, a developmental disability, a visual impairment, hearing loss, etc.). Private school students are not eligible.
Up to 20,000 accounts will be set up for Texas families whose children have eligible disabilities on behalf of the approximately 59,000 Texas students that fit the SSES category.
Although the plan anticipates allocating $1,500 per eligible student for reimbursement of qualified services, the amount would be increased in the event there are fewer applicants and would be decreased proportionately for non-low-income families if there are more applicants than available funds.
Families can apply for each of their children who has a qualifying disability.
The TEA says more info will be forthcoming later this school year.
The TEA will maintain a list (via an application process) of approved vendors to supply goods and services that parents can obtain via their online accounts.
The TEA also noted (in the FAQ document) that public school teachers can qualify as vendors to provide services such as tutoring.