I came across an interesting factoid about the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH).  SOAH employs hearing officers who hear administrative cases involving many state agencies.  A few years ago, SOAH took on special education due process hearings. 

SOAH is required to file a HARP (Hearings Activity Report) with the Legislative Budget Board and the Governor twice a year. I took a look at the report for SOAH’s activity from September 1, 2020 to February 28, 2021. 

The HARP itemizes the number of billable hours spent dealing with cases from various agencies. More billable hours are spent on DPS license revocation cases than anything else, by a wide margin. This report shows 15,016 hours spent on those cases.

But guess what comes in second????  Special education due process hearings, at 4400 hours. SOAH also conducts hearings for T.E.A. on non-special ed matters, but that amounted to only 927 hours.  The HARP breaks down the costs of special education hearings like this:

Thought you might find that interesting.  

DAWG BONE: PRESIDENT FORD PREDICTED THAT IDEA WOULD CREATE A LOT OF PROCESS AND PAPERWORK.  HE WAS RIGHT.

Got a question or comment for the Dawg?  Let me hear from you at jwalsh@wabsa.com. 

Tomorrow: Sheesh-O-Meter.