News Updates

Gov. Ann Richards of Texas has approved shutting down one of two state schools for the mentally retarded targeted for closing by a state task force.

The state must close 2 of its 13 state schools in order to comply with a court settlement in a 17-year-old case involving the care of mentally retarded individuals in that state. (See Education Week, March 25, 1992.)

Ms. Richards said on March 26 that she agreed with a task force's recommendation to shut down the Travis State School in Austin by 1995. She rejected, however, the task force's recommendation to close the state's largest institution, the Mexia State School in rural Mexia, by 1999. The school houses about 1,000 residents and employs about 1,400...