Austin ISD settles lawsuit over delayed special ed evaluations, creates fund for affected students

A federal court signed off on a settlement Wednesday between Disability Rights Texas and Austin ISD over its backlog of special education evaluations. The settlement requires the district to establish a fund to help cover the cost of services for students who were affected by the delayed evaluations.

Disability Rights Texas supervising attorney Kym Davis Rogers said in a statement the group was pleased to reach the agreement on behalf of Austin ISD students.

“Most importantly, AISD has committed to the timely evaluation of students with disabilities and established a $4 million fund to provide compensatory education to students whose evaluations were delayed,” she said.

Kenneth M. Walker II, general counsel for Austin ISD, said in a statement to KUT that students who are eligible for assistance under the deal must meet certain criteria. For one thing, they have to be currently enrolled in the district. They also have to have experienced a more-than-20-day delay to their evaluation between March 1, 2020, and the end of the 2024-25 school year.

When the lawsuit was filed in 2021, Disability Rights Texas said at least 800 students had not received an initial evaluation within the time frame required by state and federal law. Evaluations, which determine whether a student has a disability, are the first step in the process of getting them any services or support they need. Some Austin ISD families had waited as long as a year for their children to be evaluated.

The Austin ISD school board voted to approve the settlement last month.

Austin ISD Trustee Kathryn Whitley Chu, who represents District 4, said reaching the agreement is significant for the district and families. She said she decided to run for school board in 2022 because she had dealt with the delays firsthand: One of her children had waited nearly a year for an evaluation.

“It was a huge personal milestone and a huge milestone in this role as a trustee when my colleagues and I got to vote on settling this agreement,” she said.

Whitley Chu said reaching a settlement with Disability Rights Texas was especially meaningful to her because the group puts the rights of children first.

“It felt good because I knew this was a group that has the best interests of kids and that they’re not going to be satisfied until we’re doing the right thing,” she said. “They would not settle until the right thing was being done for students.”

The settlement requires Austin ISD to be fully in compliance with federal evaluation timelines by Dec. 31. It also requires the district to pay for independent educational evaluations if requested by the parents of students affected by the evaluation delays.

The $4 million fund the district must create will also be used for “compensatory education summer programs for impacted students.” The programs must be at least four weeks long and available at multiple campuses starting next summer. Austin ISD also must communicate with families who have students eligible for the program in October and November, as well as next January.

According to the settlement, if the needs exceed $4 million, the district will put more money in the fund.

Since Disability Rights Texas sued, Austin ISD has made significant strides in reducing its evaluation backlog. Both the school board and superintendent have repeatedly said improving special ed services is a priority. The Texas Education Agency also appointed monitors last October to ensure the district was making state-mandated changes to those services. The TEA reached a deal with Austin ISD last year after the agency found the district repeatedly failed to provide services required by state and federal law.

The Austin Monitor’s work is made possible by donations from the community. Though our reporting covers donors from time to time, we are careful to keep business and editorial efforts separate while maintaining transparency. A complete list of donors is available here, and our code of ethics is explained here.