Texas Senate approves bill to expand micro grants for special needs students

Texas special education students have had limited access to resources since schools closed last spring because of COVID-19. PHOTO: Jordan Vonderhaar for the Texas Tribune

Texas legislators have passed a bill that will extend a program that provides $1,500 grants for purchase of services for additional educational support to families of children with special needs.

SB 1716, approved on a bipartisan vote of 21-9, will expand the Supplemental Special Education Services program, created during the COVID-19 pandemic for children who were cut off from essential therapies and interventions because of school closures.

The bill would require the Texas Education Agency to establish and administer the program for students who meet eligibility requirements for participation.

Nearly 600,000 Texas students received special education services in the 2019-20 school year according to the agency. Agency officials report that while about 60,000 of those students meet eligibility requirements for the Supplemental Special Education Services program, current funding covers only 20,000.

Emily Sass, policy director for Next Generation Texas at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, testified in favor of the legislation, stating that families whose children have disabilities were, and continue to be, especially vulnerable to disruption in their education services in the wake of COVID-19.

“This is an ongoing need,” Sass wrote. “A child’s struggles after over a year of upheaval and potential learning loss are not going to evaporate even with a widely distributed vaccine. Children of all backgrounds and needs have lost ground this year. Children with disabilities are especially vulnerable.”


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BY reimaginED staff