This week, Commissioner Morath made changes to Student Success Initiative (SSI) requirements for all districts in the 47 county Presidential Disaster Declaration for Hurricane Harvey. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) also announced it intends to apply for additional federal waivers related to transportation costs, equipment costs for students Independent Education Plans (IEPs), lost or destroyed records, IEP amendment process and accountability for districts located in the governor’s disaster declaration.
Changes to Student Success Initiative (SSI)
Changes to Student Success Initiative (SSI) by the Commissioner includes removing the requirement to conduct grade placement committees and June 2018 STAAR retests in 5th and 8th grades for all districts and open-enrollment charter schools in the 47 county Presidential Disaster Declaration. Specifically, if a student fails the second test administration, districts will not be required to administer a 3rd test and will have local discretion on whether that student should advance to the next grade. However, districts will be able to continue to administer the 3rd test in June 2018, if they believe it to be in the best interest of the students. Changes to SSI are covered in the TEA FAQ at http://tea.texas.gov/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=51539619352
Additional Waiver Requests Due to Devastation Caused by Hurricane Harvey
TEA is requesting comments about its intention to apply for additional federal waivers for districts located in the governor’s Hurricane Harvey disaster declaration. Due to the need to provide timely flexibility to LEAs affected by Hurricane Harvey, all comments on these proposed waivers are due by Friday, January 5, 2018, by electronic mail to grants@tea.texas.gov. TEA’s intent to apply for Federal waiver include:
- Transportation Costs. Districts have incurred costs for transporting students to various campuses because of the increased number of homeless students eligible under the McKinney-Vento Act. TEA will request that local education agencies (LEAs) be granted the flexibility to use any federal funding source to pay for the deficit caused by these additional expenditures.
- Equipment Costs. Specialized equipment required under specific Individual Education Plans (IEPs), programs, and classroom materials used to implement IEPs previously purchased by IDEA-B funds may have been lost or destroyed in the hurricane floods. TEA will request that LEAs be granted the flexibility to use any federal funding source to pay for the replacement costs.
- Lost or Destroyed Records. Student records required by IDEA or any other federal program may have been lost or destroyed. TEA will request that LEA compliance and monitoring findings due to loss of student records or documentation be waived during the applicable statute of limitations.
- IEP Amendment Process. TEA will request that LEAs be allowed to use the change of IEP process, without restriction, to document any changes made necessary because of the hurricane. However, LEAs would still have to get approval from the parents of any affected students and the requirements for eligibility and the requirement that IEP teams meet at least once during the 2017–2018 school year would not be waived.
- Accountability: TEA will request flexibility from school improvement provisions of ESSA for LEAs in the heaviest impacted areas. TEA may not provide state accountability ratings for certain campuses in the impacted regions; however, TEA would continue to identify all campuses in the state as comprehensive and/or targeted as outlined in the ESSA State Plan.