With her head on a swivel, teacher Jazen Miranda watched eight kids take a seat on colored squares in front of the SMART board, while also keeping an eye on the ones that hadn’t left their tables. Gentle reminders and redirections of “quiet bodies” and “listening ears” fill the air.
“It’s OK if someone is on the square that you prefer,” she told a boy in an orange shirt as he searched for a seat. He looked at his teacher skeptically, but when she repeated her words, he nodded and sat down.
Miranda is a teacher for students with disabilities at Watkins Elementary in Wylie ISD. Her class has 11 kids in kindergarten through fourth grade, all of whom are a part of the Structured Academics and Interpersonal Learning, or SAIL, program. The time spent outside of the classroom varies; one student spends 75% of his day with the gen-ed classes, others only leave the class for one period. The goal for SAIL students is to eventually move to general education classes full-time.
The SAIL program is just one of the ways that disability programs are structured based on the needs of students.
Classes for students with disabilities rely on state funding to give students access to services such as speech therapy, occupational therapy and physicians as well as support staff.
Disability education departments and programs like SAIL across the state have had a tumultuous budget year, squeezed between state funding cuts for School, Health and Related Services and money from House Bill 2 that won’t come until next year. This leaves districts like Wylie uncertain of the support they will have for programs that are growing faster than budgets.
Dallas-Fort Worth school districts
Wylie, Allen, Dallas and Plano have seen similar increases in their students with disabilities population. Every year since the 2020-21 school year, the disabled student population has made up a larger part of the total student population than the year prior. In the 2024-25 school year, the students in the disability program made up an average of 15.1% of each of the four school districts. In Texas, about 13% of students are enrolled in disability programs, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
Wylie has seen the biggest increase of these four districts. Their students with disabilities population increased from 12.2% to 16.7% of students in five years, according to the Texas Education Agency.
A few things go into these increases, according to Wylie ISD officials. The district’s professional development courses have helped teachers identify students that might need testing, resulting in the identification of more students who meet the criteria for disability programs. Additionally, the school district is growing, and with that, the number of students needing disability programs trends up as well. Furthermore, in 2023, House Bill 3928 moved dyslexia under special education.
All students who meet disability program criteria require an IEP, or Individualized Education Plan. The plan includes performance levels, annual goals, accommodations and services the student receives. The plans are put together and adjusted by the student’s teacher and presented at an annual meeting with a committee that includes the teacher, parents, a district representative, general education teacher and service providers.
To support the increase in students, Wylie is focusing on what the teachers need. They provide “learn and earn” monthly trainings led by the disability program director. Teachers and paraprofessionals are paid for every three hours they participate. These trainings are based on observations, requests, and communication between teachers and the department.
“My teachers have a voice,” Sarah Jusiewicz, a learning specialist at Wylie ISD.
Jusiewicz is in her second year with Wylie and is the first person in this position. She visits with teachers and schools regularly to learn about successes and struggles within the programs.
Budget issues
The successes at Wylie come at a price, literally. Last school year, Wylie spent nearly $8 million over its disability program allotment funds. It has over-spent every year for the last five years. This forces the district to be creative with its budget. The expenditure for the disabled student education department comes at the expense of the general education budget. Initiatives that have been decreased in the past are new buses and raises for teachers.
Staffing is one of the biggest expenses, and support staff is one of the most important parts of a successful class for students with disabilities according to Jennifer Wiseman, the principal at Watkins Elementary. The success of all of these programs depends on small staff-to-student ratios.
“You find those good people,” Wiseman said. “And you do what you can to make them stay.”
In Miranda’s classroom, there is one teacher and three paraprofessionals or paras. Miranda puts lesson plans together and teaches original material, sometimes to the class as a whole and other times to groups split up by grade level.
The paras work with groups of students by grade level, one with kindergarten and first, one with second and one with third. They each have three to four kids. They move among the students, sometimes at their request, sometimes when students look like they’re struggling with a task.
The paras go in and out of the classroom when their students go to rotations and gen-ed classes. When all the paras are in the room, the class operates on a ratio of four teachers to 11 students.
Lorena Ovalles’ son is a second grader in Miranda’s class. This year marks his second year at Watkins and his third in a SAIL classroom. In his time at Watkins Elementary, Ovalles has seen his personality and adaptability grow.
“I’m just really happy he’s where he’s at,” she said.
Her son is a very regimented kid who thrives on a schedule. Many of the students in Miranda’s class are. They all have their schedules printed out in their folders that they go over each morning so they know what to expect throughout the day.
Background politics
In October 2024, Texas cut $607 million from School Health and Related Services, a program that gives financial reimbursements for health-related services to families of children who qualify for Medicaid. It helped cover services such as counseling, physical therapy and specialized transportation.
The state budget cut for SHARS came after a 2017 federal audit report found that Texas school districts had overbilled Medicaid between October 2010 and June 2011. The report demanded that the state agency refund the federal government almost $19 million dollars. The state health department appealed, but the motion was dismissed in 2023.
Wylie ISD felt an impact from the SHARS budget cut in 2024. It received $3 million from SHARS prior to the change and only $376,000 after, a funding decrease of nearly 90%. The SHARS went to Wylie’s general operating funds, which allowed them to use the money however the schools needed to. School year 2024-25 was also the first year they began operating under a budget deficit plan, which focuses on cutting costs and bringing money in. The new plan was not directly related to the SHARS cut.
Over the summer, Abbott signed House Bill 2 which gave $8.5 billion to Texas public schools. This includes $834 million from special education reform according to a news release from the governor’s office. House Bill 2 is the biggest budget increase for public schools since 2019.
“Now is the time to make Texas number one in educating our children,” said Abbott at the time. “House Bill 2 ensures that our schools are funded better than ever, teacher pay and student funding are at all time highs, reading and math performance will improve, and students will be better prepared for the workforce.”
However, the new funds did not go to the general operating funds, which would allow districts to use money for what each district individually needs.
“Overall the budget was not helped,” said Scott Roderick, chief financial officer for Wylie ISD. “We’d probably be in a better budget position without House Bill 2.”
The new bill increased the salaries of teachers with specific experience levels, something that Roderick said the district was grateful for. However, additional funding did not provide enough for all other support positions, such as paras, counselors or nurses, to receive a raise as well. With this, Wylie passed a $4.2 million compensation package that further increased their budget deficit.
Some parts of HB 2 will not go into effect until next year and are based off data from the current school year. For the 2026-27 school year, disability programs will change from a placement-based system to a service intensity-based system. The change will mean that services should be more individualized to each student. There will be eight tiers of support based on daily attendance according to the Texas Council for Developmental Disabilities.
Wylie does not know how much money they will receive for their students with disabilities program. They’re hoping to see an increase in funds but with the new tier system, it’s possible they’ll receive less per student than they are currently.
Despite budget issues, schools have continued to feel like they can reach out to the district for support. Jennifer Wiseman, the principal at Watkins Elementary, primarily asks for more paraprofessionals when it comes to educating students with disabilities.
“Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t,” she said. “What I appreciate is that they sit down and listen.”
After hours
Thursdays are Miranda’s late nights. She tries to keep her work at work so she can focus on her family when she’s home.
First she met with her paras. They went over goals and plans from the week and talked about any adjustments that might be needed. They figure out activities that can be done independently by groups when they don’t have a para or Miranda with them. Task boxes work well. Small plastic boxes with colorful cards, some in the shape of ogres or animals, that have fabric fasteners for the kids to match questions to answers. Math boxes have addition and subtraction problems.
“We use a lot of Velcro in this classroom,” Miranda laughed as she demonstrated how the kids use a laminated card with coins to learn about money.
Now Miranda’s the only one left in room K11. Her eyes fixate on her computer screen going through curriculum plans from the gen-ed teachers to make sure they align with her student’s IEPs. She does this for each student and each grade level.
She moved to a table in the corner of the room, pulling out folders and methodically flipping through them. Her paras document behaviors and goal progress weekly. They technically only have to document every other week but they like to stay on top of things. Miranda ensures that any goals that hadn’t been met were incorporated into the next week’s plan.
Miranda does a lot of work and she knows it. But seeing the small wins and helping them navigate setbacks makes the effort worth it. She said she feels privileged to be invited into their space and their world. At the end of the day, the students are what matters, Miranda said, and logistics aside, she’ll do what needs to be done to support them.