Students work on an exercise at Thrive Charter School in Magnolia, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025. Thrive is the only independent charter school in Texas that specializes in educating students with autism. The school serves grades K-8.
Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle
A Texas Education Agency investigation found Houston ISD violated federal requirements for students with disabilities, forcing the district to review thousands of students’ individualized education plans before it overhauls special education.
The agency has ordered HISD to review individualized education programs for affected students, including any “potential harmful effects of any proposed placement;” meet with families to review changes before moving campuses; and offer training to all district-level special education staff.
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Parent Stefanie Naranjo filed a complaint with the state after her son learned in May he was reassigned to another school next year — even though his individualized education program said he would attend his current campus, Sinclair Elementary. He was among about 5,000 students with disabilities who received abrupt reassignments.
In response to her complaint, the TEA ordered HISD to take corrective action for Naranjo’s child and make “systemic corrections for all students with disabilities” in the district. It warned that it may impose more sanctions if HISD fails to comply.
The agency said in a July letter that HISD violated two provisions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which guarantees students with disabilities a right to a free and appropriate public education. It cited federal regulations requiring students to be educated near their homes and a meeting with the student’s IEP team — which typically includes teachers, parents and advocates — before changing their campus assignment.
In its investigative report, the agency said the district “cannot unilaterally amend a student’s IEP.”
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“It requires the (district) to ensure that, unless the student’s IEP requires some other arrangement, the student is educated in the school that he or she would attend if not eligible for special education,” the agency wrote. “The student cannot be moved to the new campus until the IEP team has met and remedied these errors.”
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Potential sanctions if HISD doesn’t comply
State conservators, who have overseen HISD’s special education department since December 2020, must report changes back to the TEA by August. If all adjustments are not made by Oct. 9, the TEA could pursue “additional interventions or sanctions against Houston ISD,” according to the letter.
HISD’s overhaul, called the Special Education Success Program, would move students who spend at least half of their time in self-contained classrooms to new campuses in the 2026-27 school year.
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HISD has said the changes would reduce class sizes, consolidate resources and increase support for staff, without affecting students’ individual programs. Many parents, however, have said the sudden change would move their children miles away from home and potentially disrupt their educational progress.
Naranjo said she was happy that her son would return to the same school as his siblings and that the response could bring sweeping change to the district. But she’s concerned the district hasn’t followed through yet with the agency’s order.
“I was actually happy considering I wanted him to go to the same school because that way he wouldn’t be separated from his brother,” Naranjo said. “But then when I called the district about him going to the same school, and they’re still telling me that he’s going to go to the school that they assigned him.”
The TEA declined to comment on the specific complaint but said it was investigating special education complaints involving HISD.
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HISD was not immediately available for comment. In response to the federal investigation announcement in May, the district said any review of the plan would find that the updates “focus on increasing access to services in the least restrictive environment, strengthening systems to improve the quality of instruction, and improving student outcomes.”
“As always, the district remains committed to ensuring students with disabilities receive the services and supports outlined in their Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) and that placement decisions are made individually through the (Admission, Review, and Dismissal) process in accordance with applicable law,” HISD wrote.