Austin School District and Disability Rights Texas Reach Settlement

The Austin school district and Disability Rights Texas have settled a 2021 lawsuit, in which the nonprofit accused the district of failing to provide timely special education services to five students. The district’s school board approved the settlement on Thursday, but neither party had disclosed details as of Friday.

The settlement comes as the Austin district works to comply with a September 2023 order from the Texas Education Agency (TEA), which highlighted the district’s failure to evaluate students for special education services and provide other services.

In a joint statement, the school district and Disability Rights Texas said, "We are pleased to reach this agreement and now await final approval from the court."

The March 2021 lawsuit, filed on behalf of five students identified only by their initials, alleged that the district had a yearslong backlog of evaluation requests, preventing timely services for students with disabilities. Federal law mandates that school districts complete evaluations within a strict timeline after a parent requests their child to be assessed for special education services.

Austin had amassed hundreds of overdue evaluations, partly due to staffing issues and data collection problems.

In September, the TEA installed a monitor over the Austin district due to the backlog. A monitor is the least severe of state sanctions, allowing districts to maintain autonomy if they meet the order's requirements.

The TEA order required aggressive timelines for clearing the backlog, updating district data systems, extensive staff training, and providing additional services for students who filed grievances with the state, among other things.

The district has made progress, reducing overdue evaluations from 1,780 in January 2023 to 306 in December, and closing corrective action plans for students who filed grievances, according to district reports.