Austin ISD administrators delivered a quarterly update on the district’s strategic plan for special education — part of the district’s Texas Education Agency agreed order — highlighting hiring, training, family outreach and a planned data‑system migration.

What the district reported: Dr. Cherry Lee (interim assistant superintendent for special education) and staff told trustees that since January the district has completed more than 650 IEP audits and 30 formal campus walk‑throughs, produced an evaluation manual and family guide, and held a spring evaluation clinic that completed dozens of evaluations during spring break to help the district meet federal timelines.

Staffing and contractors: The department is converting many contracted evaluation and related‑services roles into district positions. District leaders said an initial phase of 17 full‑time positions was posted and more than 70 interviews had been held; additionally, speech pathologists’ calendars were extended to provide better summer evaluation coverage. The district said these changes are aimed at reducing reliance on contractors and improving continuity for families.

Family engagement and AAC: The special education team said it is expanding family events, transition‑focused sessions for families preparing students for life after high school, and an automated quarterly newsletter. The district also highlighted work by an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) team that the district said has increased high‑tech AAC use by more than 300 percent since 2020 and trained more than 500 staff and 100 families.

Data system migration: The district has formed a cross‑department steering committee to move special education and Section 504 data to a new digital management system. Austin ISD said trainers will receive multi‑day sessions in May/June and the district plans a July “go live” with back‑to‑school support in August.

TEA oversight: The presentation was framed as a quarterly update required by the TEA agreed order; trustees asked questions about evaluation quality checks, independent educational evaluation (IEE) requests and ongoing recruitment. Staff said supervisors review a sample of evaluations weekly and that the district can report IEE rates, adding that there was no unusual spike that they have seen.

Next steps: District staff said they will continue hiring, refine onboarding for new clinicians, deliver targeted campus support and provide trustees with data on IEE requests and evaluation quality metrics in future updates.