Ensure Inclusive Education
for all Texans With IDD
The Arc of Texas 2021 Public Policy Priorities
Special education is not a separate educational system.
It is a support service provided to students with specific needs within the general education system.
Students with disabilities learn best in inclusive settings.
For example, their neighborhood schools.
Inclusive education involves every student–regardless of the severity of a student’s disability.
Participating and learning in the same school and with the same classmates as if they did not have a disability is essential.
Inclusive educational environments establish the foundation for society.
It plays a key role in supporting the rights of all people to live in their own homes and be competitively employed as contributing and valued members of the community.
Serve the individualized needs of every student.
Ensure students with disabilities are identified and evaluated as quickly as possible to receive a Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) that is entitled to them by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
Ensure compensatory services are available and accessible.
Provide extra services to students who may need to catch up to reach their educational goals as a result of the pandemic.
Incentivize supporting children with IDD in inclusive settings.
Remedy funding weights that are still skewed toward segregated instructional arrangements and do not provide enough incentives for school districts to fully implement least restrictive environments.