Texas Education Agency responds to Corpus Christi ISD truancy complaint

After a coalition of civil rights and disability rights groups made a complaint to the Texas Education Agency that Corpus Christi ISD's truancy practices discriminate against students with disabilities, the district now faces corrective actions.

In February, Disability Rights Texas, National Center for Youth Law, Texas Appleseed and the Texas Civil Rights Project filed a complaint against CCISD with the TEA, claiming that the district's reliance on truancy courts pushes students out of traditional school programs and into GED and other alternative educational options.

On Thursday, the groups announced that they had heard back from the TEA, which determined CCISD violated its obligations to identify and evaluate students with disabilities who were referred for truancy between Feb. 6, 2023 and Feb. 6, 2024. According to the civil rights group's summary of the TEA findings, the district did not ensure that students eligible for special education that were referred for truancy during that period had revised individualized education programs.

The district is now required to review the files of every student sent to court for truancy to check for violations and to revise its policies and guidelines to inform IEP teams of concerns before truancy referrals are fired.

"CCISD is addressing the administrative concerns through the TEA complaint process," district spokesperson Leanne Libby said Thursday in an email. "While we are unable to share additional information at this time, we are fully cooperating with the process."

Over the past four years, Corpus Christi ISD has seen growing numbers of special education students.

In 2020-21, the district was found noncompliant in some TEA special education state performance plan indicators, but the non-compliance was corrected by the end of the year, according to a March presentation to the CCISD Board of Trustees. The district was 100% compliant in 2021-22, but currently has corrective actions in process as a result of a non-compliance rating in 2022-23.

This 2022-23 non-compliance rating, separate from the current complaint regarding truancy, related to the completion of timely initial evaluations and ARD meetings.

According to the March presentation, the district office of special education at that time noted 43 teacher vacancies, 55 paraprofessional vacancies, eight speech language pathologist vacancies, three educational diagnostician vacancies and two school psychologist vacancies.

What did the truancy complaint allege?

In the two years before filing the truancy complaint, the civil rights organizations observed court proceedings involving Corpus Christi ISD students dozens of times. According to the complaint, observers witnessed students forced out of school based on the district's recommendations, despite students telling the court they wanted to remain in school.

According to the original complaint, the groups found that Corpus Christi ISD stood out from other districts across the state for its reliance on truancy courts. During the 2021-22 school year, 13% of the CCISD students referred to truancy court were receiving special education services.

School-age children are required to attend school, though families are allowed to choose private or home school options and exceptions exist if a temporary physical or mental condition makes attendance infeasible or if a child is expelled or pursuing a high school equivalency examination.

A student who fails to attend school for 10 or more days within six months of the same school year is in violation of compulsory attendance law. Schools alert parents and initiate truancy prevention measures after three or more missed days in a four-week period.

After that point, schools have the authority to refer students to truancy court. Once a case has been referred to truancy court, judges have discretion when it comes to what consequences a student might face.

The complaint cites Texas court data, finding that Nueces County was responsible for 11% of all truant conduct cases in the state in 2022. Only 1% of the Texas population lives in the county.

Within Nueces County, the complaint compares CCISD to other Corpus Christi school districts, finding that CCISD turned to truancy courts in a larger percentage of cases than Flour Bluff ISD or West Oso ISD.

Between 2015-2016 and 2021-22, Corpus Christi ISD referred 6,785 students to truancy court, with 780 of those students receiving special education services, according to the complaint.

The complaint also describes the experiences of three CCISD students who were referred to truancy court, describing cases where students were not identified for special education services despite conditions like dyslexia, depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

The district filed a truancy complaint against one student just two months after they were released from a mental health hospital, the complaint describes.

This week, the groups shared a summary of the TEA's response to the complaint.

According to the summary, the TEA found noncompliance after investigating two allegations − that the district did not meet its obligations for students who were not eligible for special education and were referred for truancy and that the district did not ensure student IEPs were revised to address truancy for students who were eligible for special education services.

Texas Civil Rights Project legal director Dustin Rynders said that he observed truancy court proceedings in Corpus Christi this month, just before he learned of the TEA findings.

Rynders said he observed tough questioning of a special education student and their parent, but no questions asked of what the school was doing to resolve the situation.

"To me, it's just heartbreaking to see a school shirk their responsibilities to provide special education and instead start a court process that is punitive and isn't going to help resolve the underlying disability-related needs that the students have that led them to miss school," Rynders said.

Rynders said that the corrective actions assigned to CCISD by the TEA are in line with what the civil rights groups were requesting.

"When you sit through a docket on the truancy court, there are a lot of children... they have serious mental illness, they have these other problems, but no questions are asked about has the district done an evaluation or if they need special education or if there's something different that should happen in their educational programming," Rynders said.

Districts have an affirmative obligation to evaluate and provide services to every student with a disability, Rynders said.

"The parent (shouldn't) have to know their rights and know how to ask − it's the district's responsibility," Rynders said.

What actions will Corpus Christi ISD have to take?

In response to an inquiry from the Caller-Times, the Texas Education Agency confirmed the district was assigned a corrective action plan, noting the release of specifics on the plan would require a public information request.

The Caller-Times submitted a public information request for the plan Thursday.

The civil rights groups did provide a summary document outlining the information the TEA communicated to the groups who submitted the original complaint.

According to the summary, Corpus Christi ISD will have to conduct a folder review for every student who was not eligible for special education and was referred for truancy between Feb. 6 2023 and the date of the investigative report.

For any student that should have been evaluated for special education, the district must evaluate them and develop an IEP and determine placement if appropriate, according to the summary.

CCISD must also conduct a folder review for each student who was eligible for special education and referred for truancy during the period to determine it the student's IEP meets their needs and if additional evaluations are required or if additional information is needed to determine causes and possible remedies for truancy, according to the summary.

The district must also revise its policies and guidelines to bridge any gaps between truancy action and IEP teams so that IEP teams are informed of concerns before truancy referrals are filed, according to the summary.

CCISD must provide the TEA with documentation demonstrating the completion of the corrective actions by Aug. 30, including a copy of revised policies and guidelines and a copy of training agendas describing information presented in staff development.

The district has until Sept. 30 to provide the TEA with a spreadsheet showing the actions taken as a result of each folder review, according to the summary.

"The Texas Education Agency can't control what the judge does, but I hope that through this complaint, the court itself is educated and starts directing some of the tough questions to the school as well," Rynders said.

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This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: TEA assigns corrective action to CCISD after truancy complaint