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Lewisville ISD outlines plan to address ‘significant disproportionality’ in out-of-school suspensions for students with disabilities
Summary
District officials described a Strategic Support Plan submitted to TEA and ongoing staff training to reduce disproportionate out-of-school suspensions for African American students with disabilities, including mandatory set-aside of IDEA-B funds and use of Safe and Civil Schools and restorative practices.
Lewisville ISD staff told trustees Monday evening that the district has been identified as having significant disproportionality (SD) for the third year in the category of out-of-school suspensions of students with disabilities, and described actions already underway to address the finding.
Tina Clark, joined by Linda Peterson and Lisa Granville, briefed the board on compliance under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and on the district's response after being designated SD Year 3 in TEA’s 2024 results-driven accountability report. Clark said LEAs designated SD Year 3 must allocate a mandatory 15% of existing IDEA-B federal funds toward improvement strategies for the area identified.
"Based on our 2024 results driven accountability...LISD is SD in the use of out of school suspension for less than or equal to 10 days for African American students with disabilities," Clark said. She said the district submitted a Strategic Support Plan (SSP) to TEA in December and that the SSP requires review and revision of policies, practices and procedures that contribute to the disproportionality.
Clark told the board the district has partnered with LEADS (Leaders and Educators Addressing Disproportionality in Special Education) and the American Institutes for Research for technical assistance, and is collaborating with Education Service Center Region 11 liaisons.
District staff highlighted a large professional development effort: 54 of 69 campuses voluntarily participated in Safe and Civil Schools training (six-day cohorts) so far, representing about 450 staff, with additional sessions scheduled to complete the work in March. Staff also said they are reframing tier 2 and tier 3 MTSS behavioral supports, integrating counseling and licensed school psychology resources, and piloting therapeutic elements in in-school suspension settings.
Officials noted data timing challenges: TEA’s SD findings track discipline on a two-year lag (the 2024 SD determination reflects 2021–22 discipline data), which can complicate efforts to align current interventions with the data being judged by the agency. Clark and colleagues cited measurable progress in district trend data, including declines in the number of out-of-school suspensions overall and for African American students with disabilities, and a reduction in risk ratios (for example, a drop from 3.1 to 2.8 in the risk ratio cited by staff), though the district has not yet reached the TEA threshold (staff said target risk ratio is below 2.5).
Trustees requested additional data breakdowns: they asked for mandatory-versus-discretionary offense counts by race and disability status, campus-level details, and proportional rates (to compare rates rather than absolute counts). Staff agreed to provide totals by offense and campus-level data using Edustance and to supply rates so trustees can see proportional changes rather than just raw numbers.
Board members also asked about participation gaps: staff said 15 campuses have not participated in Safe and Civil Schools training (some campus types such as certain technical centers were not included), but the district earmarked funds to support additional cohorts next year and will encourage the remaining campuses to participate.
Superintendent and trustees said they will monitor the plan’s implementation and data outcomes; the district will remain required to submit an annual SSP to TEA until it no longer meets SD Year 3 status.
