Last revised June 4, 2025.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, English is the controlling language of these Terms of Service. Any translations have been provided for your convenience.

Please read this Terms of Service ("Terms," "Terms of Service") carefully before using the Empower website (the "Website") operated by Texas Council of Administrators of Special Education, a Corporation formed in Texas, United States ("us," "we," "our", "TCASE") as this Terms of Service contains important information regarding limitations of our liability. Your access to and use of this Website is conditional upon your acceptance of and compliance with these Terms. These Terms apply to everyone, including but not limited to visitors, users and others, who wish to access and use the Website.

TCASE functions as a Third-Party Service Provider or School Official for schools. Consequently, the terms may be superseded by contracts and other agreements between TCASE and the schools that use our products, in addition to our obligations under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and other applicable laws.

Details about our Services

Empower is a comprehensive education plan management platform built to simplify and centralize the creation, monitoring, and compliance of a wide range of student support plans—including IEP, 504, MTSS/RTI, English Learner, Gifted, Dyslexia, Safety, and Individualized Instructional Plans.

Student Data is any information (in any format) that is directly related to any identifiable current or former student that is maintained by a School and may include educational records as defined by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) that Schools provide to us. Schools own the Student Data and remain responsible for it. Our Privacy Policy provides more detail around how we handle Student Data.

Subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement, we grant to you permission to access and use the service. We reserve all rights not expressly granted to you in the services and the content (as defined below). We may terminate this license at any time for any or no reason.

Your Content

You are responsible for the data you enter including its legality, reliability, and appropriateness. You will provide the appropriate notices and consent (including consent from employees, coworkers, parents or guardians for any minor, etc) related to the collection, use, processing, transfer, and disclosure of Personal Data and content entered into or made available in the website. TCASE will not have any liability arising from the inaccuracy of data, completeness, use of, or reliance on the information contained in the data from any service under this Terms of Service. You will comply with all applicable laws and regulations as well as school or district policies.

Prohibited uses

You agree that you will use this Website in accordance with all applicable laws, rules, regulations and these Terms at all times. The following is a non-exhaustive list of prohibited uses of this Website. You agree that you will not perform any of the following prohibited uses:

• Impersonating or attempting to impersonate TCASE or its employees, representatives, subsidiaries or divisions
• Misrepresenting your identity or affiliation with any person or entity
• Sending or attempting to send any advertising or promotional material, including but not limited to spam, junk mail, chain mail or any similar material
• Engaging in any conduct that restricts or inhibits any person's use or enjoyment of the Website, or which, as determined in our sole discretion, may harm us or the users of this Website or expose us or other users to liability
• Using the Website in any manner that could disable, overburden, damage or impair the Website or interfere with another party's use of the Website
• Using any robot, spider or other similar automatic technology, process or means to access or use the Website for any purpose, including monitoring or copying any of the material on this Website
• Using any manual process or means to monitor or copy any of the material on this Website or for any other unauthorized purpose
• Using any device, software, means or routine that interferes with the proper working of the Website, including but not limited to viruses, trojan horses, worms, logic bombs or other such materials
• Attempting to gain unauthorized access to, interfering with, damaging or disrupting any parts of the Website, the server(s) on which the Website is stored, or any server, computer or database connected to the Website
• Attempting to attack or attacking the Website via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of-service attack
• Otherwise attempting to interfere with the proper working of the Website
• Using the Website in any way that violates any applicable federal, state or local laws, rules or regulations

NO WARRANTY ON WEBSITE

THIS WEBSITE IS PROVIDED "AS IS," NO WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED (INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE) SHALL APPLY TO THIS WEBSITE, WHETHER ARISING BY LAW, COURSE OF DEALING, COURSE OF PERFORMANCE, USAGE OF TRADE OR OTHERWISE.

Availability, errors and inaccuracies

We assume no liability for the availability, errors or inaccuracies of the information, products or services provided on this Website. We may experience delays in updating information on this Website and in our advertising on other websites. The information, products and services found on the Website may contain errors or inaccuracies or may not be complete or current.

DAMAGES AND LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

IN NO EVENT SHALL TCASE BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, PUNITIVE, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF, RELATING TO OR IN ANY WAY CONNECTED WITH YOUR ACCESS TO, DISPLAY OF OR USE OF THIS WEBSITE OR WITH THE DELAY OR INABILITY TO ACCESS, DISPLAY OR USE THIS WEBSITE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO YOUR RELIANCE UPON OPINIONS OR INFORMATION APPEARING ON THIS WEBSITE; ANY COMPUTER VIRUSES, INFORMATION, SOFTWARE, LINKED WEBSITES OPERATED BY THIRD PARTIES, PRODUCTS OR SERVICES OBTAINED THROUGH THIS WEBSITE, WHETHER BASED ON A THEORY OF NEGLIGENCE, CONTRACT, TORT, STRICT LIABILITY, CONSUMER PROTECTION STATUTES OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF TCASE HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

Intellectual property and DMCA notice and procedure for intellectual property infringement claims

All documents, student information, and other educational records as defined by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) are the property of the educational agency or institution that maintains them. All other contents of this Website are ©2019 Texas Council of Administrators of Special Education. All rights reserved. Unless specified otherwise, this Website and all content and other materials on this Website including but not limited to all logos, designs, text, graphics, pictures, information, data, software, sound files and arrangement thereof (collectively, "Content") are the proprietary property of TCASE and are either registered trademarks, trademarks or otherwise protected intellectual property of TCASE or third parties in the United States and/or other countries.

If you are aware of a potential infringement of our intellectual property, please contact help@support.empoweriep.com.

We respect the intellectual property rights of others. It is our policy to respond to any claim that Content posted on the Website infringes on the copyright, trademark or other intellectual property rights of any person or entity.

If you believe in good faith that the Content infringes on your intellectual property rights, you or your agent may send us a written notice of such infringement titled "Infringement of Intellectual Property Rights - DMCA." Your notice to us must include the following information:

• An electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the intellectual property right's interest
• A description of the work that you claim has been infringed, including the URL (i.e., web page address) of the location where the work exists or a copy of the work
• Your name, email, address and telephone number; and
• A statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the owner of the work, its agent or the law

Please note that we will not process your complaint if it is not properly filled out or is incomplete. You may be held accountable for damages, including but not limited to costs and attorneys' fees for any misrepresentation or bad faith claims regarding the infringement of your intellectual property rights by the Content on this Website.

You may submit your claim to us by contacting us at help@support.empoweriep.com.

Governing law, severability, dispute resolution and venue

These Terms shall be governed and construed in accordance with the laws of the state of Texas, United States, without regard to its conflict of laws provisions. THESE TERMS SHALL NOT BE GOVERNED BY THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON CONTRACTS FOR THE SALE OF INTERNATIONAL GOODS, THE UNIFORM COMMERCIAL CODE, NOR INCOTERMS.

Our failure to enforce any right or provision of these Terms will not be considered a waiver of that right or provision. If any provision of these Terms is held to be invalid or unenforceable by a court, the remaining provisions of these Terms will remain in effect. These Terms constitute the entire agreement between you and us regarding our Website, and supersede and replace any prior agreements we might have had with you regarding the Website.

Any controversy or claim arising out of or relating to these Terms including but not limited to the interpretation or breach thereof shall be resolved in a court of competent jurisdiction in Travis County, Texas.

YOU AND TCASE AGREE THAT EACH MAY BRING CLAIMS AGAINST THE OTHER ONLY IN YOUR OR ITS INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY AND NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY CLASS OR REPRESENTATIVE ACTION.

Changes to Terms of Service

We may revise the Terms of Service from time to time and will always post the most current version here.

Questions

If you have any questions about our Terms of Service, please contact us at help@support.empoweriep.com.