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Austin ISD provides update on efforts to reduce special ed evaluations backlog

Interim Superintendent Matias Segura hopes the TEA will reconsider the conservatorship.

AUSTIN, Texas — Austin Independent School District's interim superintendent hopes the Texas Education Agency (TEA) changes its mind about a proposed conservatorship.

In an email sent to district families on Monday night, Matias Segura wrote that he hopes the TEA will reconsider assigning a team of conservators to oversee the district's special education.

Segura pointed to AISD's ongoing efforts to reduce the special education evaluations backlog, including a new dashboard to help track special ed students. Campus administrators have also mapped out a special education schedule and planned how to meet students' needs.  

In the past month, AISD has filled 15 specialist positions, increasing special ed staff to 37 out of the 75 needed.

In March, the TEA recommended a conservatorship over AISD's Special Education Department due to the backlog. Initially, the district acknowledged it was lacking and welcomed collaboration with TEA.

Then in April, AISD requested an informal review of the decision.

AISD’s request for an informal review allows the district to share information with TEA about progress in recent months and the district’s plans for resolving the backlog of special education evaluations. The informal review is an option provided by the TEA as part of the process recommended in its report.

Segura said after meeting with the TEA last week, AISD staff now await the next steps.

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