Texas School for the Blind

Established in Austin in 1856, the Texas School for the Blind, now the Texas State School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, strives to provide all blind and visually impaired students in Texas with the skills and knowledge to enjoy fulfilling and satisfying lives.

In 1856, the Texas Legislature created the Asylum for the Blind, which enrolled seven boys in its first class, taught by two teachers and meeting in a rented residence in Austin. They eventually moved into a building on 19th Street and East Avenue. This site was transferred to the University of Texas in 1925, becoming the Little Campus. The Asylum for the Blind became known as the Texas Institution for the Blind (also referred to as the Blind Institute) in 1905, and finally the Texas School for the Blind in 1915. In this latter year, the Legislature appropriated funds to build a new campus on 73 acres of land in northwest Austin, donated by the citizens of Austin. This is the present location (1100 West 45th Street), occupied by the new School in 1917. In 1919, the 36th Legislature created the Board of Control (Senate Bill 147). This three-member board replaced the boards of governors of each of the state's eleemosynary institutions, including the Board of Trustees of the School for the Blind. In 1951, the 52nd Legislature (House Bill 378) placed the School for the Blind under the Board for Texas State Hospitals and Special Schools. The 53rd Legislature (1953) transferred the School for the Blind to the State Board of Education (Senate Bill 119/House Bill 128). And in 1965, the Legislature placed the School for the Blind under the direction of a Central Services Agency for Special Schools for the Blind and the Deaf, still under the State Board of Education.

The Texas School for the Blind is currently governed by a nine-member board appointed by the Governor for six-year terms. Three of the members must be blind, three must be parents of blind persons, and three must have had experience in working with the blind. The board is the equivalent of the board of trustees of an independent school district: it appoints an executive director or superintendent to administer the school, and all actions of the board may be appealed to the State Board of Education (Texas Education Code Annotated, Sections 11.06-11.091).

In 1887, the 20th Legislature created the Texas Institute for Deaf, Dumb and Blind Colored Youths, to occupy a 100-acre tract four miles northwest of the State Capitol, just east of what became Camp Mabry. The first class had nine blind students and eight deaf students, taught by one teacher apiece. Enrollment had climbed to 125 by 1912, with a faculty of 11. The governing body was a three-person Board of Trustees. In 1930, black orphans began to be admitted to the newly designated Deaf, Dumb and Blind Asylum for Colored Youths and Colored Orphans. Three more name changes followed: in 1943, to the State School for Deaf and Blind Negro Children; in 1947, to the Texas Blind, Deaf and Orphan School; and in 1965, to the Texas Blind and Deaf School (finally placed under the Texas Education Agency). With desegregation in 1966, black students were merged with white students in the Texas School for the Blind and the Texas School for the Deaf respectively.