Texas reports having fewer special-education students

From The Houston Chronicle: Just 8.8 percent of the public school students in Texas are diagnosed as having special needs in 2011, down from 12 percent in 2000. The state now has the lowest percentage of special education students in the nation - a full 4 percentage points below the U.S. average. Urban giants such as the Houston and Dallas school districts identify even fewer children—7.9 percent and 7.7 percent, respectively. Some educators take the declines as a positive sign, but other fear the state might be under-diagnosing to reduce costs or to circumvent accountability measure