Fabens ISD special‑education director reports 352 students served; TEA to fund $1,000 per initial evaluation

The district’s special education director presented the annual special education report during the May 20 Fabens ISD board meeting, reporting campus counts and statewide policy changes that will affect funding and reporting.

"Fadens Elementary has a 116 students. OBI has 75 students. Fabens Middle School is at 90, and Fabens High School is 71. That's 352 students that we're currently serving instead," the director said, giving the board a snapshot of current caseloads. The presentation also noted 26 pending evaluations and a four‑year trend of rising special education enrollment in the district.

The director told trustees that the Texas Education Agency will provide $1,000 for every initial special‑education evaluation the district conducts. "We are now going to receive 1000 dollars for every initial evaluation that we conduct here in our district," the director said, a change trustees framed as helpful because the district conducts about 35–40 initial evaluations per year. Trustees pressed on whether the district has sufficient staff; the director described reliance on contracted evaluators for some specialist roles and said staff are doing overtime to meet timelines while vacancies are filled.

The presentation also summarized legislative changes and funding adjustments: an increase in special education transportation reimbursement (from $1.08 to $1.13 per mile), a higher college/career/military readiness bonus (from $2,000 to $4,000 for qualifying students), and an upcoming shift to a new eight‑tier intensity funding model designed to allocate funds by service intensity rather than instructional setting. The director said the state set aside transition funding so districts would not face immediate cuts during implementation.