Annual Registration of Students with Visual Impairments
The VI Registration should include all students who receive any services from your district as a student with visual impairments. This count includes students under the age of 3 years who are served by your district and ECI, students who are deafblind, as well as those with visual impairment and additional disabilities.
The registration also includes students who are receiving accommodations for a visual impairment under Section 504. There is a separate password for those entering the information about these students. Since TEA does not maintain a list of individuals responsible for Section 504, we are asking you to share the 504 password with the person in your district responsible for 504 programs.
The VI Registration generates State Supplemental Visually Impaired funds for each ESC Region, federal funds to obtain educational materials from the American Printing House for the Blind, and data for regional and statewide program planning. This registration is also used by TEA to verify the need for large print and braille textbooks.
The data needed should reflect the number of students with a visual impairment who were in the school district as of January 2, 2025, or the first day the district resumed following the winter holiday. The deadline to complete registration is January 31, 2025.
Please note the following regarding deafblind students:
- Every student who is considered deafblind (or has IDEA eligibility for both D/HH and VI) on the VI Registration should be included on the Deafblind Child Count.
- Every student who is included on the Deafblind Child Count should also be included on the Registration of Students in Texas with Visual Impairments.
Update:
Current Eye reports: As per American Printing House for the Blind (APH), the requirement for a current eye report or a doctor’s note is no longer a requirement of the federal quota program. However, all students must still have their visual acuities/field loss and level of vision recorded in the count. Students must still meet one of the definitions of blindness in order to generate APH quota funds. See updated definitions below.
Updated Definition of Blindness: Beginning in 2024, APH will institute a modified definition of blindness for the purpose of carrying out the Act to Promote the Education of the Blind. In the 2024 Census for students to be eligible for registration in the Federal Quota Program, they MUST meet the following criteria:
- Meet the definition of blindness (MDB)—a central visual acuity of 20/200 or less (using a Snellen chart or an acuity determined in Snellen equivalents) in the better eye with the best correction or a peripheral field of vision no greater than 20 degrees. OR…
- Function at the definition of blindness (FDB)—when visual function meets the definition of blindness as determined by an eye care specialist (ophthalmologist or optometrist) or a medical doctor such as a neurologist. Students in this category manifest unique visual characteristics often found in conditions referred to as neurological, cortical, or cerebral visual impairment (e.g., brain injury or dysfunction). OR…
- IF NEITHER are met, students may also be eligible because they: Qualify under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) definition of blindness: an impairment in vision, that, even with correction, adversely affects a child’s educational performance (34 CFR§300.8(c)(13)). (Vision does not need to be their primary disability condition.)
Enrollment: Students must be enrolled in a formally organized public or private, nonprofit educational program of less than college level (educational programs include public, private, and parochial schools as well as vocational and rehabilitation programs for adults) and have a written education plan. School-aged students (including infants, toddlers, preschool, homebound, home- schooled students) must be enrolled with the registering school or agency on the first Monday in January. Adult students must be registered for at least 120 hours of educational instruction during the preceding calendar year.
Updated Consent Form: Students who qualify according to the updated definitions of blindness mentioned above can generate federal quota funds… but only if we have permission to share their data with American Printing House for the Blind (APH). Our updated consent form highlights a little more clearly as to why we ask for consent to share personally identifiable information, and what parents/guardians stand to gain if they choose to give an affirmative response. Please know that completing this exact form is not a requirement. A school may choose to have their own process of collecting and recording responses. Some circumstances may make it necessary or more expedient that responses be collected through other means. Those other means could include: documented verbal consent in the presence of other witnesses, an email, a text message, a handwritten written note, etc. The form is intended as a resource for your use, if you choose to use it. Schools are still required to collect responses for consent every year and keep a record of those on file.
Downloads
Superintendent Signature
- The Superintendent’s signatures will be collected electronically.
- At the end of the registration period, they will be notified by email that their page is open and given a password to access their district data.
- Once notified, they will have until February 17, 2025, to certify their district’s information. No paperwork will need to be submitted.
Important Reminders
- Students must have their TSDS unique identification number entered. Since 2015, the TSDS Unique ID has been the identification of record. Children birth to three years old may still use the last 4 digits of their social security number if there is no State of Texas identification.
- Under Section 504, the District 504 Coordinator is responsible for identifying students with visual impairment. It is not the responsibility of the TVI, since they are not providing services to these students.
- The Superintendent signatures will be collected electronically. At the end of the registration period, they will be notified by email that their page is open and given a password to access their district data. Once notified, they will have a two-week window to click on a box certifying their district’s information. No paperwork will need to be submitted.
Consent for release of Confidential Information
Each student who is registered as a student in Texas with a visual impairment, a student who is deafblind, or a student with a visual impairment under Section 504 must have consent for sharing that information with other agencies. The consent form allows us to share their information for funding and resources available from the American Printing House for the Blind, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC), Blind Children’s Program; HHSC Early Intervention program; Texas Workforce Commission; regional Education Service Centers; and other agencies. It is important that the Consent for Release of Confidential Information form is signed annually and maintained in the student folder. Consent Form,