Cy‑Fair ISD special‑education enrollment rises; district reports service mix and test scores

Marcia Peters, the district’s assistant superintendent for educational support services, told the Cypress‑Fairbanks Independent School District Board of Trustees at a Jan. 12 work session that 17,597 students — roughly 15.3% of the district’s enrollment as measured on the October snapshot — were receiving special education services.

Peters said the district’s special‑education population has increased since 2018 and described a full continuum of services that includes early childhood special education (ECSC) for ages 3–5, elementary and secondary resource and in‑class supports, life‑skills programs for students with more significant cognitive needs, adaptive behavior programs, a reset program focused on teaching scholarly and emotional skills, and post‑secondary transition programming under VITAL (vocational and independent training for adult living) for students up to age 22. She also reviewed the Carleton and Carpenter Centers and described the Northwest Harris County Cooperative as the district’s regional day school for students who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Peters presented a primary‑disability breakdown she said showed students with a specific learning disability accounted for roughly 34% of the special‑education population, autism about 18%, and speech impairment about 16%. She noted many students have secondary disabilities (for example, some students with autism also have a speech impairment) and said speech‑therapy services alone served just over 9,000 students.

On district assessment results for students receiving special education services, Peters said Cy‑Fair students performed at the "approaches" level or above at the following rates: RLA/English I/English II, 50%; math (grades 3–8 and Algebra), 48%; science/biology (grades 5 and 8), 57%; and grade 8 social studies/U.S. history, 58%. She said those rates are above the state and Region 4 and comparable to surrounding districts aside from Katy and Tomball.

Trustees asked several follow‑up questions about the drivers of rising special‑education enrollment. Peters and staff cited post‑2018 policy and identification changes (including dyslexia moving under special education), improved early identification, and increased family requests for testing. When Trustee Leslie asked whether the district could disaggregate performance and service data by disability category, staff said that level of reporting is possible and offered to provide a disability‑level breakdown in a Friday follow‑up report to help the board weigh resource allocation decisions.

The presentation closed with trustees thanking staff for the overview and noting the information will inform upcoming budget and staffing discussions.

Next steps: staff will provide the requested disaggregated data and additional clarifications in a Friday report to the board.