SECTION 89.1121. Distribution of State Funds

(a) Procedures for counting the average daily attendance (ADA) of students receiving special education services in various instructional settings must be developed by the commissioner of education and included in the student attendance accounting handbook adopted under §129.1025 of this title (relating to Adoption by Reference: Student Attendance Accounting Handbook).

(b) State special education funds must be distributed to school districts on the basis of ADA of full-time equivalents of eligible students served in accordance with §129.21 of this title (relating to Requirements for Student Attendance Accounting for State Funding Purposes).

(c) The special education attendance must be converted to contact hours by instructional arrangement and then to full-time equivalents. The full-time equivalent for each instructional arrangement is multiplied by the annual amount equal to the basic allotment or, if applicable, the sum of the basic allotment and the allotment under Texas Education Code (TEC), §48.101, and then multiplied by the weight for the instructional arrangement as prescribed in TEC, §48.102(a). Contact hours for any one student receiving special education services may not exceed six hours per day or 30 hours per week for funding purposes. The total contact hours generated per week is divided by 30 to determine the full-time equivalents. Special education full-time equivalents generated are deducted from the school district's ADA for purposes of the regular education allotment.

(d) The receipt of special education funds is contingent upon the operation of an approved comprehensive special education program in accordance with state and federal laws and regulations. No district may divert special education funds for other purposes, with the exception of administrative costs as defined in Chapter 105, Subchapter B, of this title (relating to Use of State Funds). Funds generated by full-time equivalents in one instructional arrangement may be spent on the overall special education program and are not limited to the instructional arrangement which generated the funds. The district must maintain separate accountability for the total state special education program fund within the general fund.

(e) A special education fund balance may be carried over to the next fiscal year but must be expended on the special education program in the subsequent year. State special education carryover funds cannot be used for administrative costs.

(f) Students who are at least three, but younger than 22, years of age on September 1 of the current scholastic year who participate in the regional day school program for the deaf may be counted as part of the district's ADA if they receive instruction from the basic program for at least 50% of the school day.

(g) Students from birth through age two with a visual impairment, who are deaf or hard of hearing, or both who are provided services by the district according to an individual family services plan (IFSP) must be enrolled on the district home or regional day school campus and must be considered eligible for ADA on the same basis as other students receiving special education services.

(h) Funding for the mainstream special education instructional arrangement must be based on the average daily attendance of the students in the arrangement multiplied by the annual amount equal to the basic allotment or, if applicable, the sum of the basic allotment and the allotment under TEC, §48.101, and the 1.15 weight as provided by TEC, §48.102(a). The attendance must not be converted to contact hours/full-time equivalents as with the other instructional arrangements.

Source Note: The provisions of this §89.1121 adopted to be effective September 1, 1996, 21 TexReg 7240; amended to be effective March 6, 2001, 26 TexReg 1837; amended to be effective January 1, 2015, 39 TexReg 10446; amended to be effective October 5, 2021, 46 TexReg 6533