Subvenciones de $1,500 para familias por el Programa de Servicios de Educación Especial Dirigidos por los Padres (PDSES): 2025-2026 Seminario Web

Very good afternoon and welcome to the webinar this afternoon today, organized by the Partners Resource Network. My name is Ginette Aguirre and I am part of the My Partner Joanne Randall Accompanies Me Team, who is part of the PDS ES team at the educational services center in region ten. We also have Margeana Antunez with us, who is part of the partner resource network. The topic of today's webinar is the parent-led special education services program, also known by its acronym in English PDSES. Now, a few reminders. This webinar is being recorded and the recording will be posted on our site, Svettex. The chat function is only available if you need technical support. However, you can ask questions in the question and answer section. The presenters will review their submissions, which will help us to make clarifications and frequently asked questions in the future. There will be no live Q&A today. A little bit about Spectex. Spectex is Texas's special education information center. We are a collaborative project between the educational services center of region ten and the Texas education agency. We help parents understand their rights and responsibilities under IDEA, and we facilitate collaboration when there are concerns between parents and the school district. We also serve as a resource for educators. We offer phone, email or live chat support for everyone, families and professionals, webinars like today's, and resources. Our information is on the screen. Now we'll hear from Marianna Antunez for additional information from the partners resource network. Go ahead, Marianna. Afternoons everyone, Jeanette, Joan. I'm Marian Antunez and I represent the Partners Resource Network. Partners is a nonprofit organization that operates the Texas network of information and training centers for parents. These OPTI centers are funded by the Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs. In Texas, these four PTI projects are known as PACT, PATH, PEN and TEAM. Our mission is to empower and support Texas families and people with disabilities and special health care needs. We do this thanks to a network of highly qualified regional coordinators who know local policies, services and resources, as well as state and national guidelines. PRD provides training, information and personalized assistance at no cost to Texas families and youth. We serve parents of children and youth with disabilities from birth to twenty-six years of age, as well as youth between fourteen and twenty-six years of age who exercise self-defense. Thank you, Maryana. We will now begin with today's presentation. As we said, the presentation in English will be by the Lord. Hudgespeare and Katrina Mathus. Mr. Hudgespeare is the coordinator of family and community school participation in the Texas education agency, in the office of special populations and student support. Mrs. Kathrina Mathis is the assistant director at the educational services center for region ten. He's joining us to talk about him, to talk about this presentation in English. The information you'll see today is presented and translated into Spanish, and we're sharing during the webinar with you today. Welcome back to everyone. It's wonderful to be with you today, and we're so excited to give us the opportunity to share information about this program called PDSS. Some of you may already know about this program, others will have received and used the grant, or you know someone who has already done it. And there are also others who are learning about this program for the first time today. Regardless of your experience, we hope you find this presentation useful and informative. A little bit about today's agenda. We'll talk about what the PDS ES program is, the history of the program, the application process, how to make purchases in PDS marketing, and we'll also talk about frequently asked questions about the program. So let's start with a basic overview of the PDSS program. Go ahead, Joanne. Thank you, Janet. What is the PDSS? PDSS is a grant program that provides a $1,500 spending account to families of students who are enrolled in a public school in Texas, served through special education. Families can use this money to purchase educational goods and services for their eligible student. Families don't receive $1,500 in cash or with a debit card. Instead, you are given access to a funded account on the PDSS online marketplace. Through this market, families can invest their funds in educational goods and services, such as books, computers, school supplies, sensory elements, therapeutic items, tutoring, therapy, and summer camps. A resident of the state of Texas who is a natural or adoptive parent, guardian, administrator, legal guardian, guardian, or other person with legal authority to act on behalf of the child is considered a parent. Although the parent applies, eligibility depends on the student. To qualify for PDSS, a student must be enrolled in a Texas public school, from preschool to tenth grade, including students in programs of eighteen and over. They must receive special education services through an individualized education program, an IEP in English, and they must not have previously used funds from a PDSS grant. And PDSS is a one-time grant. The program uses an application window system. This school year, the application opens on Wednesday, April 1st at eight a.m. Central Standard Time, and closes on Thursday, April 30th, two thousand twenty-six at five p.m., Central Standard Time. Now let's take a quick look at the show's history. We are super excited to be entering our sixth year of the PDS ES program, which began in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and was officially launched in January 2011, which was a difficult year for everyone, especially students with disabilities. As you can see on the screen, the number of accounts awarded each year depends on the funding available. The program has been very well received and the number of applications has increased every year. Last year, more than seventy-two thousand accounts were awarded, to which previous years could be applied throughout the year, all year round. This year and last year, due to high demand, the program started using an application window system, such as the one in March Twenty-Four, where applications were only accepted for a certain period. That was during the season from February 3rd to March 31st of the twenty-fifth. And as Joan told us before, this year it will be the window open from April 1st to April 30th of the twenty-twenty-sixth. To date, PDSES has awarded a total of more than two hundred and thirty-six thousand accounts to families of eligible students. This represents approximately twenty-eight percent of all students eligible to receive this grant. Account holders have placed nearly seven hundred thousand approved educational orders, buying more than two and a half million educational items, and more than seven hundred thousand services, such as tutoring or therapy. Honestly, one of the real joys is having the opportunity to work directly with families like you. We talk to and listen to families every day, and we do our best to help in many ways, whether it's answering questions about how the program works or mentoring someone who has an account but doesn't know how to spend their funds. Helping a parent add their students' guardian or therapist, we also like to help them. We love this work and have the privilege of supporting families on a daily basis, which, for me personally, is the most satisfying, fun and rewarding part of the PDS ES program. Over the years, we have collected many testimonials, quotes and thank you notes, such as the one shown here. And that child did benefit from the grant. We are also proud to share that PDSS families have reported an overall satisfaction rate of nearly ninety-six percent through our surveys. We know that the program is not perfect. Some families have experienced longer than desired wait times, supply shortages, or order problems, and there are always areas for improvement. Overall, however, we know that the program is making a positive difference. So let's take a look at the application process. On the next few slides, we'll cover the three main steps. Number one, prepare to apply. Two, submit the request. And three, check your status. The first thing we recommend to prepare for the application period is to visit the PDSS website, at the link https, PDSS dot TEA dot Texas dot gov. This website is the best source for up-to-date information about the program. While you're there, you can also join the mailing list to receive program updates, reminders about the application window, and tips for preparing to apply. If you don't have a MySpeedCheck account yet, now is the time to create one. You won't be able to access the PDSS application anywhere other than through your MySpectX account, so it's a good idea to set it up as soon as possible. Your MySpedex account allows you to log in to the PDSS parent portal, and request your request. To create your account, go to SpeDEX dot org, click on create account or log in within the My SPECTX login button. Please use an email Please use your primary email, which you will verify often, as your username. Please use a personal email, as emails from work or school may not receive the messages. Once you sign in to your MySpeedEx account, your screen will look similar to the example shown. To access the PDSS parent portal, click the box, go to your PDSS parent portal. This slide provides an overview of the main page of your PDSS parent portal. We've highlighted the four key sections. Language selection, here use the drop-down menu to select the portal language English or Spanish. Number two, the navigation panel, here, click on the tabs in this panel to quickly navigate to different sections of the portal. Number three, the father section. Here, provide your contact information in the section for parents and guardians, and at the end, the students section. Here, after adding your student, you'll see them listed here, along with the request, once submitted. The first step is to enter your contact details in the parents/guardians section. You will need to provide the following, your first and last name, street address. Here, in this section, postal boxes are not allowed. It must include the city, state and zip code. You must be a resident of Texas. Your number, telephone number and communication preference. Select if you want to receive notifications in English or Spanish. Your MySpetics login email cannot be changed within the application. If you need to update your account email, please contact us at eight five five seven seven three thirty-eight thirty-nine. You can update the parent's information at any time by clicking the edit button. The edit option only appears after you have submitted your information. Once you have completed the information section for parents or guardians, click the add student button to open the student search window and begin the process of adding your student or students. On the student search page, you'll need to provide the following information for your student. First, it's the identification number. There are two options for this. The first is to enter the unique identification number, or UID, commonly known in schools as your student's TSDS number, which is a ten-digit number assigned to each student in a Texas public school. Option two, alternatively, can enter the identification number you used when registering your student with the school district. This is usually the student's social security number. If this number was not provided during enrollment, the school will have issued an alternative identification number, commonly called an s number. The second step is to provide your student's first and last name, and date of birth, as it appears in the school's official records system. The information entered in the student search is used only to locate your student, it is not saved within the PDSS system. For example, social security numbers are never saved. If you need help finding this information, contact your student's school. Once you have entered all the required information in the fields, they should turn green. Right now, click search. If you have correctly entered your student's information in the red box in the central panel, the student's data will be automatically filled in the fields. Verify that the information is accurate. If everything looks good, click add to profile. You will then see a green confirmation box stating that your student has been successfully added to their profile. When you exit this page and return to your main page, you will see that the student now appears in the student section. Here are some important notes. This is one of the most complicated sections of the application, and many families have had difficulties trying to search for their students. These problems usually occur for one of two reasons. First, the student's name includes, including double last names, special characters, such as hyphens, apostrophes or other symbols, may cause an error. And second, the name entered may not exactly match the name in state records. Even a single character difference can cause an error. If you need help finding this information, contact your student's school. If you run into a problem or receive an error message, please also see the link in the error message table that we have published. You have now learned how to add a student, or several students, to your parent portal. However, you won't be able to do anything other than add students until the application period opens on April 1st. The top memory on the slide shows the student section before the request window opens. Notice that the student has been added, but all other columns are blank. It's important to understand that adding a student to your profile doesn't mean you requested the application. To apply, you must wait for the application window to open, and then click the apply button and complete all the steps. Sadly, there have been families who did not receive funds, since they added their student to the MySP account, but did not return to apply. The bottom box shows the same student section, after the application window opens. You'll see that the last column, the action column, now includes a blue apply button, which you can click to start the application process. After you click apply, the application will take you to the submission page. On this page, you will need to review and accept the following by checking the box. First, terms of the PDSS thirty-day account activation requirement. You'll also need to certify that you have legal authority for your student. If you cannot certify that you meet the definition of the parent of the program, you should not participate in the PDSS program, according to section twenty-nine point zero four one of the Texas student code. A parent, to review the definition, is a resident of this state, who is a natural or adoptive parent, a guardian, trustee, or other person with legal authority to act on behalf of the student. When you apply, you must certify that you have that authority and you may be required to provide documentation to verify this at the request of the program administration, if this is in question. You will also need to check the box to certify that the information provided is accurate and true. After you've checked the box, your first and last name will automatically appear. Now, after carefully reading and accepting the three guarantees, you are going to click the submit button. If everything has been completed successfully, you will see a green confirmation box that says saved application. When you return to the main page, as Joanne taught you before, your student's row will now show more data, and this will include an identification of the application, the date on which you submitted the application, the status, that is, where you are in the application process, details of the state, date of your status and an action column that will now say cancel. Now, you will only click cancel if you want to cancel your request or application. If you don't want to cancel it, please don't do anything with that button, leave it at that. Unfortunately, parents have canceled their application by mistake and did not get the grant. The main portal includes an option to upload documentation as well, but it's important to note that, for most applicants, state data will determine their eligibility and there is no need to upload documentation. However, due to a delay in the state's data collection schedule, the eligibility of some students may not appear in the system, specifically those who have only recently been eligible for the scholarship. As a bonus, this is a very small group of students. As a reminder, to be eligible for PDSS, a student must be enrolled in a Texas public school or a charter school, and receive special education services in the pre-kindergarten through twelfth grades. Now, if you need to upload documentation, it would be that the key date for you is the first of October of the current school year. If a student had their first ARD meeting or enrolled in school after October 1, then we recommend using the add attachment feature to upload the required documentation. Parents can upload the documentation at the time the application is submitted or return to the beginning later to upload at any time before the application period closes, which this year will be from April 1 to April 30, two thousand and twenty-six. After submitting your request, you can log in to the PDSS parent portal at any time to check the status of each request you made. Please, we ask that you be patient. Processing applications and providing grant decisions does take time. Requests are processed in the order they were received. The PDSS team must verify each student's eligibility using state records based on the student's UID, also known as the TSTS number. You will receive an email notification each time the status of your request changes. Again, you can also log back in to the parent portal at any time to verify that way as well. Once the application period is over, TEA will review your application and determine your student's eligibility. Again, please remain patient, this process takes time. If your student is determined to be eligible, you may still have to wait for your account to be funded. Once your application is funded, an account will be created for you and you will receive an email from the PDSS marketing provider called Classwallet, with further instructions on how to start the section within their portal. You will also need to complete the PDSS parent agreement. If the account, after receiving the classwalet email, is not activated within thirty days, the funds will be returned to the state. All grant funds must be spent by the scholarship deadline listed in the account description. Any funds that are not used before that deadline will be returned to the state. Below, we provide an overview of the shopping experiences within the Classwalk platform. Thank you, Janet. Once an account has been allocated, the family will have access to the marketplace. Let's see how parents can spend funds for their eligible student. The PDSS program distributes funds through Classwallet. Follow the steps provided in the Classwallet welcome email to access this account and purchase educational resources and services from approved vendors and providers directly on the Classwallet platform. Parents have access to more than seventy vendors in the Classwallet marketplace, offering a variety of educational and therapeutic products. There are several sellers of technological items, such as computers, tablets and printers, and those looking for sensory items can find a variety of options in stores located within the Cast Wallet platform. For educational resources, such as math manipulatives and reading programs, there are stores that offer great options. The market is full of resources to support learning at home and complement what is taught at school. This one contains a lot, but it's just to give you an idea of which items are being bought the most in categories. Many families create a space dedicated to home study, adding items such as a desk, chair, monitor and computer to help their student concentrate. For students with sensory needs, parents can also purchase weighted items, anti-stress items, and adaptive seats for additional support. Families have shared how beneficial it has been to have these materials available to their students at home to reinforce learning. The PDSS program has specific purchasing guidelines to ensure that all items provide a direct educational benefit to the student. Some items also have limits on how much can be purchased or on the maximum price allowed. Items such as cleaning products, food and beverages, clothing, and general household items cannot be approved. Our PDSS team reviews each order carefully to ensure that these guidelines are being met. If an item doesn't meet the requirements, the order will be rejected and the parent will receive an email explaining the reason. We are always happy to help them. If something is not approved, the PDSS team can work with you to find alternatives that meet the guidelines and that support the learning needs of your students. PDSS families across the state of Texas have a wide variety of options for using funds for services. We offer providers who can meet the educational and therapeutic needs of our families, including tutoring, counseling, camps, ABA therapy, speech therapy, and dyslexia. Please remember that PDSS funds are strictly for services provided directly to the student. They cannot be used for evaluations, evaluations, legal services, day care, late or cancellation charges, or for defense services. Parents can use a provider map to find approved providers and check if the provider is currently registered. If a student receives services from a provider that is not yet in the market, the PDSS team can assist in the approval process. For parents who want to start services, such as tutoring or therapy, the map can help find providers close to home. You can search by type, category, city or zip code. Every account has a spending deadline, and we encourage families to start using their funds for services as soon as they are granted, so they have enough time to spend all the funds. However, if you need more time to complete the expense of services, parents can collaborate with the PDSS team to request an extension. We would like to take a little time to review some of the most common questions parents have about the PDSS program. Janet, are you ready for the first question? List. Allow me here. Do I need a MySpeTex account to apply? Yes, you will need to sign up for a MySpeTex account to apply. The PDS ES application can only be completed online through your MySpeedEx account. If you don't already have a MySpeedEx account, you'll need to create one before you can access the PDS ES parent portal and apply. The system is compatible with mobile devices, but it is recommended to use a computer or tablet to complete the application. Janet, do students who attend a private school meet the requirements? What about the students of five zero four? Unfortunately, the answer to both questions is no. Students enrolled in a private school do not meet the requirements for PDS, because the program is only available to students who attend a public school district or a charter school here in Texas. In addition, students who are enrolled in a private school, but receive special education services through a proportional share, are also not eligible for this program. As for children served under section five zero four, they also do not qualify for the PDS ES program, since they do not receive services through an IEP, and what is the individualized special education program. What if my student is in the process of being evaluated for special education when the application is opened? Excellent question. The process of identifying and evaluating a student for special education can take quite a long time. Some families may learn about the PDSS program and want to apply, but their student is still being evaluated. Before applying for the PDSS, these families must wait for the evaluation process to complete and stop the initial meeting of the admission, review and retirement committee, the ARD, during which the committee will determine if the student is eligible for special education services, and if so, develop an individualized educational program or the IEP. If the application deadline closes before this occurs, these families must wait until the next year's deadline to apply. The email with the award decision reads, waiting to be funded. What's next? And this has been one of the most common calls we receive. If you receive an email of your decision that says, the award is waiting to be funded, this means that your student has been declared eligible for the program, but you will have to wait for additional funds to be secured before receiving your account. Parents can log in to their parent portal at any time to check their status if it has changed since that communication. The PDS-ES program does prioritize the allocation of accounts based on applicants who meet the requirements for the national school lunch program. Priority is given to parents of these students who are eligible to receive free or reduced-price lunch, depending on the economic disadvantage code. Now, those bills will be received before two children who aren't eligible for that type of free or reduced-price lunch. The grant decision email says, your student is not eligible for the PDSS program. If a parent believes the student is eligible, what should they do? Excellent question too. If you believe that the denial decision was wrong because your child was enrolled in a Texas public school and was receiving special education services at the time you applied, you can complete the appeal process. To appeal, log in to the PDSS parent portal. On the home page, you will see a button that says appeal, in the column under action, for the student you want to file your appeal for. You will be asked to upload documentation of your student's eligibility to your individualized education program, or the IEP, from the most recent ARD meeting. The date on the IEP must show that your student was being treated for special education on or before the day the application was submitted. Once a Classwallet account is granted, is there a time limit for logging in or an activation requirement? Yes, Joanne, and this answer was for you. I can answer it. Answer it, then. Well yes. After receiving a PDSS account, parents must complete the activation requirement within thirty days from the day they receive the Classwallet email provided to their account. To complete the activation requirement, parents must, number one, sign in using the primary email with which they requested. And, number two, accept the recognition and agreement of the parents of PDSS. And if a parent has more than one eligible student, a reminder must be completed for each one. Parents will receive many reminders from the PDSS team and Classwallet about this activation requirement. Now, Joanne, what can you buy? What can parents buy with their PDSS funds? The funds in the PDSS account are for the educational benefit of the eligible student, and should not be used for other purposes. The items and services requested for purchase must be those that the student will use directly to access the educational curriculum. We encourage parents to read and follow the PDSS buying guidelines, and to contact us if they have any questions. If any item in the order does not meet the requirements, the entire order is rejected, and you will receive an email explaining the reason. If an item may be at the limit or exceed a price threshold, you can add a short note linking the item to the item to the student's learning objective and daily use. This justification helps approvers understand the educational purpose. We ask families to understand that PDSS is a public program and that we must balance family flexibility with our duty to protect against fraud, waste and abuse. Clear rules and careful review help ensure that funds are used only for direct educational purposes. Now, Joanne, can parents be reimbursed for goods and/or services they purchase? No. The PDSS program does not allow refunds for goods or services. Parents can only use the funds in their Classwallet online account to purchase goods and services from approved service providers and sellers. If there's something a parent can't find in the market, we encourage them to contact the PDSS team so we can help. Now, if we need help to be able to do the shopping or any other help, what can we do? The PDSS team is here to help parents throughout the process and with all kinds of issues. For example, we can help with answering general program questions, with questions about the request, we can help or add a service provider, or place orders with direct payment providers. If you need help with the status of an order or how to access your account or change your address at this point, you will need to contact Classic Wallet. And, as we told you before, and PDSS work collaboratively. So, if you have any other questions about PDSS or if you have questions about special education, you can always contact us. We're your source for special education information, and we're happy to help. As we told you, it's our pleasure to help with this PDS ES process, as we know it helps a lot of families and children. Information about us is on the screen, if you want to contact us. Now, we want to say goodbye by giving four things you can do today to prepare for the application window. You can visit the PDSES website located at PDSES dot TEA dot Texas dot gov to learn more about the program. Also there you can join the email list, which, when you register, you will receive reminders and updates about the program. You can also create your MySPTEX account, and there you would go to spetex dot org, s p e d t e x dot or r g, and click on create account or log in, under the button, and that indicates my spedtech. After you've created your parent portal, you can start adding students and get ready to apply when the window opens on April 1 at eight in the morning, central time. We know that we have given you a lot of information about the PDS ES program and we hope we hope you find it useful. Thank you very much for being with us today, and we always, always thank you every time you call us and ask for our help. Once again, thank you for your time. And before we go, let's go again with Marjana Antunez so she can share information from partners resource network. Thank you, Marjana, and go ahead. Information from the PDSES program has been not only useful, but very timely. As Jeanette said, Joanne, it takes a long time for parents to have all the requirements in hand because, especially those who are in the evaluation process, right? But the great advantage and the great benefit of this webinar today is that it provides all the basic information necessary for these families to familiarize themselves with the topic, with the PDSS program, which yes, as they said in the chat, it is the new version of the previous SSSS Ok program. But that, yes, it has the same, in general, the same guidelines. If they need support to understand how to cover how to cover the student's needs in a complementary way using this unique PDSS program, we invite them to use the information on the screen. There is our contact information, the telephone number, the website, our email, and all of us will be very happy to help you, because we know, as we all recognize, that it is a complex process, it is a long process, but one that benefits a lot, that can greatly benefit many families and many children in Texas. So, thank you very much for participating today. Thank you very much, Maryana, well said. And let's stress, if you have questions about special education, please contact us at Spectrics, we're an informational resource for special education. We are very happy to help you. And like, uh, Marjia Ana, our contact information is once again on the screen.