Adam Zuvanich/Houston Public Media
Pictured is a sign outside the headquarters for Cy-Fair ISD on Sept. 10, 2024, in Cypress, Texas.
As Houston ISD faces a federal civil rights investigation over its plans to consolidate special education services, another large district in the region is making similar changes to how it serves students with disabilities. Cy-Fair ISD, the third-largest school district in Texas, has quietly consolidated several of its special education programs for the upcoming school year.
The “Adaptive Behavior” program, which services students with emotional and behavioral difficulties, was offered at as many as 14 elementary schools in Cy-Fair ISD this year. However, starting this August, the program will be offered at eight campuses, according to a district spokesperson.
Additionally, the district will consolidate its Early Childhood Special Education program, which helps children ages 3-5 before they enter kindergarten who are at risk of not attaining academic or life skills without early intervention. Cy-Fair ISD officials say the program is currently offered at “most” elementary schools in the district.
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The latter move will require transferring students to new campuses to access the specialized programs. District spokesperson Joel Weckerly said the consolidations of the early childhood program will affect approximately 200 students, and another 40 will be affected by the adjustments to the behavior program that caters to students in kindergarten and higher grade levels.
“We want to clarify that the programs are not ‘closing,’ simply consolidated based on district need,” Weckerly said. “The consolidations are due to the decrease in enrollment; adjustments were made where needed.”
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RELATED: Houston ISD plans to consolidate special education services, parent says after district meeting
Jane Friou, the co-founder of the Houston Special Education Parents Association, explained that service consolidations at the elementary level, while not ideal, are less likely to jeopardize a family’s access to a specialized program since there generally are more elementary school options in districts. Friou said CFISD’s move to contain consolidations within elementary schools sets it apart from Houston ISD’s restructuring.
“It’s not unheard of, but I would say the scale at which they’re doing that is concerning,” Friou said of Cy-Fair ISD. “I would be panicking if it was me.”
The district has made no formal public announcement about the changes, but says the families of students directly impacted were already made aware of them. Weckerly says the district’s website will be updated over the summer to reflect the new programs and changes.
“CFISD continually makes program adjustments to meet the changing needs of our students within the district while maximizing efficiency,” Weckerly said.
While consolidating several of the adaptive behavior programs, the district is also introducing a new special education program, Academic and Behavior Learning Environment (ABLE), which will be offered at Birkes Elementary. The district says the program “supports students with cognitive deficits who also need intense behavioral support.”
Birkes previously offered the adaptive behavior program and is the only school that will pilot the new program. Postings on LinkedIn and other online job boards show the district is actively recruiting professionals to work in the program, which begins in the fall. The district is also introducing the Structured Social Communication and Intervention Program (SSCIP) at Duryea, Lee and Moore Elementary schools.
There are 59 elementary schools in Cy-Fair ISD. This fall the adaptive behavioral program, the ABLE program and SSCIP will be offered at 12 of those schools, or about 20%.
Houston Public Media spoke to a special education teacher in an elementary school in Cy-Fair ISD and is withholding their name so they could speak freely.
The teacher expressed excitement about the opportunities starting programs like ABLE and SSCIP could bring to students and said the programs, if launched properly, could offer more tailored instruction to students instead of grouping too many students under the adaptive behavior umbrella. The teacher previously piloted new special education programs like ABLE in another, smaller Houston-area district and said the program could be successful in a larger district like Cy-Fair ISD.
“These programs are highly effective for diverse learners when done correctly, of course,” the teacher said.
The teacher raised some concerns, however, about the lack of information employees have received regarding the programs. They said employees only learned about the new programs at the beginning of May.
“We’ve had not even a few weeks to understand what this program is and we haven’t gotten a lot of information about it and so I imagine that there’s a lack of understanding about what these programs are and what the expectations within the programs are,” the teacher said.
HISDNow
Deputy Superintendent Kristen Hole discusses Houston ISD’s consolidation of special education services in a video on the district’s YouTube page.
Changes in CFISD vs. HISD
Cy-Fair ISD’s move to consolidate services and in some cases transfer students from their current campuses comes after Houston ISD restructured and consolidated its special education services.
After drafts of the plan leaked online, HISD announced in May it would close special education programs at several campuses and instead consolidate the students to specific campuses referred to as “special education hubs.” The plan requires transferring thousands of students to a new campus in order for them to access the programs required in their Individualized Education Programs, or IEPs.
RELATED: HISD under federal investigation over plans to restructure special education services
Days after HISD’s announcement, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights launched an investigation into the district to determine whether it is violating the rights of students with disabilities with its plans to restructure the way special education services are delivered. Many parents and special education advocates have said the consolidation of services and moving students to new campuses violates a federal law that requires students with disabilities to be taught in the “least restricted environment.”
“Public schools are required — to the maximum extent appropriate — to ensure that children with disabilities are educated alongside their nondisabled peers and to follow specific procedures when making placement decisions about how and where children with disabilities are educated,” the education department stated in a news release announcing the investigation.
HISD leaders say they are moving forward with the restructuring despite the investigation, which is ongoing.
“Any review will show that all special education updates for the 2026–27 school year focus on increasing access to services in the least restrictive environment, strengthening systems to improve the quality of instruction, and improving student outcomes,” HISD said in a statement.
The consolidation by Cy-Fair ISD affects a much smaller population. But Friou said she’s curious about how parents were told about the changes and whether they have been given a choice about transfers. She also wondered what other, non-special education programs will be consolidated based on districtwide declining enrollment.
In a statement to Houston Public Media, Cy-Fair ISD said the district “remains fully committed to providing all required services to students receiving special education support in accordance with state and federal law, including the requirement to serve students in the least restrictive environment.”
The district added the consolidations are not a reduction in force, but a “realignment of programs.”
“When student enrollment decreases at a grade level, the number of teaching positions may be adjusted accordingly,” Cy-Fair ISD said in its statement. “Similarly, when fewer students require a specific specialized service, the number of program sites or staff assigned to that service may be consolidated. At no point are services eliminated for students who need them.”
The timing of changes coming so late in the school year, similarly to Houston ISD’s announcement, is also a concern for Friou. She said if a family is notified about a transfer, they can request an IEP meeting to discuss options and what is best for their child.
Friou added that while the direct impact in Cy-Fair ISD figures to be much smaller than in HISD — the largest school district in Texas — the CFISD plan still includes major changes for hundreds of young students who will have to forge connections with a new team of specialists at their new schools while trying not to let the changes lead to any setbacks.
“There’s just so much anxiety for a lot of students with disabilities who might resist change, and so how do you look at that across hundreds of kids, and how do you individualize that?” Friou said.