MEDIA TIP SHEET

Media Contact:
Cheryl Fries
cheryl@Texans4SPEDreform.org
512-657-7880

TxSER is the leading grassroots disability organization focused specifically on improving special education to prepare Texas individuals with disabilities for future education, employment, community participation, and independent living.

TxSER is a confederation of parents, caretakers, loved ones, educators, advocates, and allies who envision a Texas in which individuals with disabilities receive an education that maximizes their future potential.

TxSER promotes the mission and vision of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and Texas laws that protect children with disabilities from discrimination and provide them opportunities to meet their individual potentials.

TxSER believes that the cost of denial of special education to students with disabilities is far greater to them, their families, their communities, and Texas than is the cost of its provision.

TxSER is focused on special education (including IEPs and 504 Plans) as individualized systems of supports, accommodations, modifications, and curriculum that are the civil rights of every Texas student with disability. We do not accept the misrepresentation of special education as a stigma nor as a placement that should be delayed, denied, or as something students with disabilities progress out of, except in very rare circumstances.

TxSER seeks to transform Texas special education into the collaborative, person-centered process it is intended to be, with the needs of the child at the center of policy and practice.

TxSER began as a conversation following the Houston Chronicle’s Denied investigation and the subsequent federal government Listening Sessions and online blog testimonials of families, students, and educators. The accounts of hundreds of Texans delivered through these forums make it clear that significant problems, including but not limited to the 8.5% cap, have been pervasive in our state. We believe that Texans working together can solve these problems and create a better future.