Texas is trying to do a better job of including young children with disabilities in classrooms alongside their peers.
Federal law already requires schools to educate children with disabilities alongside children without disabilities whenever appropriate. But that doesn't always happen in preschool and childcare classrooms, and a new state plan is trying to understand why, and what Texas can do about it.
The Texas Early Childhood Inclusion Plan for 2026–2030 was developed jointly by the Texas Education Agency, Texas Health and Human Services Commission and Texas Workforce Commission. In a bi-partisan effort, state lawmakers directed the agencies during the last legislative session to identify barriers to inclusion and recommend ways to address them.
More than 1,200 families, educators, childcare providers and others participated in a statewide survey. More than half pointed to a shortage of trained specialists — including special education teachers, occupational therapists and speech therapists — as one barrier to inclusion.
The plan calls for more teacher training, smaller classes and better coordination among programs. It also asks the state to explore additional funding and financial incentives to recruit and retain early childhood educators and specialists.
What inclusion can look like
For young children, inclusion doesn't necessarily look the same from one classroom to another.
Federal special education law requires children with disabilities to be educated in the "least restrictive environment." The appropriate setting depends on the needs of each child.
For a preschooler, that could mean attending a regular pre-K classroom with additional support, receiving services in a community childcare center or Head Start program, or spending some or all of the day in a specialized classroom.
Steven Aleman, a senior policy analyst with the nonprofit Disability Rights Texas, said the recommendations in the state's plan aren't particularly new.
"[They] are pretty sound and pretty basic recommendations about best practices," Aleman said.
The harder part, he said, is putting those practices into place -- and funding them.
"If we're going to try to, for instance, reduce ratios, which would be so much more important, especially for young children, especially children with disabilities, then I think you could start to arrive at some estimates or projections about what it would take to help," Aleman said.
Three Texas agencies share responsibility
Money isn't the only challenge. Texas' early childhood system is spread across multiple state agencies.
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission oversees Early Childhood Intervention, or ECI, which serves eligible babies and toddlers with disabilities or developmental delays. The Texas Education Agency manages public pre-K and Early Childhood Special Education. And the Texas Workforce Commission administers subsidized childcare and the state's childcare quality rating system.
"We have a very fragmented system," Aleman said.
Families can encounter that fragmentation when a child turns three and moves from ECI into services through the public school system. The new plan calls for better coordination among agencies to make those transitions easier for children and families.
But while the plan lays out what Texas could do differently, it doesn't put a price tag on those changes. For Aleman, that's the next question for the legislature.
"Two years ago, you mandated this report," he said. "Here's what we got. So now we need to step up to the plate."
Sujata Dand is KERA's early childhood education reporter. Got a tip? Email her at sdand@kera.org.
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