The
Texas Legislature created the Texas Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb in 1856, with five trustees appointed by the
Governor of Texas governing the new institution. Initially the superintendent of the deaf school was appointed by the board of trustees. The school opened in January of the following year, which had been established in 1887. As a result, the two schools developed divergent sign-language dialects. The school's deaf-blind department opened in 1900. The school received its current name during 1911. The
Texas Board of Control received power over TSD in 1919, the year it was formed. By 1923 it had grown into the second-largest school for the deaf in the United States. In 1939 the deaf-blind department was transferred to the
Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (TSBVI). The school had 450 students in the mid-1940s. TSD was placed under the authority of the Board for Texas State Hospitals and Special Schools, under its current name, in 1949. In 1951 the
Texas Education Agency received jurisdiction over the TSD. In 1965 the black and white deaf schools merged, and the student bodies were integrated the following year. The school retained comparatively fewer black teachers than white teachers, and, of the black teachers who were retained, the majority left within two years. The multi-handicapped deaf students department and the early childhood and elementary programs of the combined TSD moved to the former black school, which became the TSD's east campus. The sign language used by the white students became dominant over the sign language used by black students. In 1979 the Texas Legislature transferred responsibility of the TSD to an independent board; the board members include deaf persons, parents of deaf people, and professionals in the deafness sector. 51% of the members of the board are required to be deaf people. TSD became a
state agency in 1981, and it also received the designation of being an
independent school district. ==Campus==