Brittany Kelley
WIMBERLEY — The Wimberley ISD Board of Trustees listened to the annual Special Education Program update, presented by director of Special Services Lauri Grisham at its June 15 meeting.
According to the presentation, the Wimberley Strategic Plan is set to end in 2027, after its initial stage occurring in 2023. In it, the mission states that the district is “dedicated to excellence in education, empowering the next generation of Texas to have a positive impact locally and globally” through four priorities: empower student excellence, support faculty and excellence, strengthen community excellence and ensure operational excellence.
Focusing on the first priority — empowering students — Grisham noted that she would be sharing the district’s special education demographics and a review of the 2025 results-driven accountability district report, compiled of data from the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years.
“Beginning in the 2021-2022 school year, we started that school year on the snapshot day of having 286 students qualified for special education. By the end of that school year, we were at 304. If you skip forward and go into the ’25-’26 [school year] snapshot day, we had 486 students and at the end of the school year, we had 506,” shared Grisham. “That has been an increase of 200 students over those past five years in special education.”
She also explained that the growth for the most recent school year may appear to only be 20, but the district serves more than that. It actually served 575 students, but some may have been dismissed from the program, due to achieving goals, being removed or transferring out of the WISD.
The presentation also detailed the most prominent areas that qualify these students for special education:
• Specific learning disability: 202 or 40.4%
• Speech impairment: 110 or 22%
• Autism: 52 or 10.4%
• Other health impairment: 71 or 14.2%
• Emotional disturbance: 40 or 8%
Moving onto the findings of the results-driven accountability district report, Grisham stated that WISD received a Determination Level 1: Meets Requirements, which is the highest ranking.
“Our kids with special learning needs, they are also achieving the district vision of excellence, innovation and service,” she emphasized. “We’re closing the gaps; our students are closing the gaps in their STAAR performance. Our 2026 graduates have all demonstrated essential workplace skills and our students are growing socially [and] academically. We have kids that are involved in almost all of our activities within our district.”
Although there are many areas to celebrate, she did note that there is room for improvement by persisting in closing academic gaps, increasing the number of college readiness testers and empowering students toward the completion of career programs and industry-based certificates.
In response to trustee Chad Canine’s inquiry on any challenges the program is facing, Grisham explained that staff is looking into how to provide training for the special education support staff, paraprofessionals and general education teachers who also play a role in supporting the students.
Trustee Rob Campbell noted that the students make up a large percentage of the overall district population at 21.5% and thanked Grisham for her hardwork.
The Wimberley ISD Board of Trustees will meet next Monday, July 27.
