Updated at 11:23 a.m. to correct that the special education teacher apprenticeship program is a State Board of Education program, not a State Department of Education program. 

School districts statewide are facing a bevy of challenges as they strive to provide a free and appropriate public education to students with disabilities. 

Special education staffing shortages and turnover are perennial issues. An $80 million special education budget deficit means schools have unmet needs. And complaints from parents about districts’ special education programs are on the rise.

Still, schools must provide an equitable education — and that’s according to federal law. When they fall short of their duties — or when parents allege they have — it can lead to state and federal inquiries and lawsuits, which further drain school resources.

State education leaders have a few solutions in mind to ease staffing and financial hurdles — like an apprenticeship program for special education teachers-to-be, and a proposal to rethink school funding with special education students in mind.  They’re also building up resources to help school leaders and parents become better partners. 

It’s too early to say how helpful those initiatives will be. For now, schools are left to grapple with the status quo — and recruiting and retaining special education staff is among the most pressing problems.

Special education staffing woes persist at district and state levels

Idaho has faced special education staffing shortages every year since 2002, according to federal data. 

Look on any given school district’s job openings page, or on the state’s idahoedjobs.org, and there will most likely be one or more special education vacancies. 

That’s the trend nationally, too. Special education teachers make up 12% of the teaching workforce but amount to 24% of all teacher job postings, according to Georgetown University’s Edunomics Lab research center.

In Idaho, districts are hiring special education teachers with alternative authorizations in order to fill vacancies; they comprise 11% of special education teachers statewide. 

To help with staff shortages, the State Board of Education has developed a special education teacher apprenticeship program that aims to ease the path to teacher certification for those who already work with students, like paraprofessionals. But so far, only one district has hired a special education apprentice, according to Mike Keckler, the spokesperson for the State Board. 

Marguerite Roza, director of the Edunomics Lab, said another way to boost recruitment and retention is with salary increases. In Hawaii, for example, special education teachers are paid an additional $10,000 on top of their base salaries. 

But in Idaho, where districts are already strapped for cash, that may not be a feasible solution. 

In the meantime, Idaho’s special education staffers tend to have higher student caseloads than their peers in other states. Only Idaho and Ohio have fewer than 20 special education staffers per 200 students — as compared to more than 60 in some states, according to Edunomics Lab research.

Idaho is also facing a high rate of shortages and turnover at the state level. There are 10 special education staff members at the Idaho Department of Education, and nine of them are new within the last five years, according to Scott Graf, the IDE communications director. Four are new in the past two years. 

And the IDE’s special education department’s turnover rates have more than doubled in the last two fiscal years. 

At the local level, Julian Duffey, the special education director at Jefferson County School district, said positions like his are known for “high burnout” and turnover as well.

On top of staffing shortages and turnover, districts are also navigating budgetary gaps that might increase as more students qualify for special education services. 

Special education enrollment and costs are linked. In Idaho, that could soon lead to greater budget shortfalls

Nationally, special education enrollment is trending up, even as overall student enrollment trends down. That means on average, schools are identifying more kids as qualifying for special education, according to Edunomics Lab research.

In some states, more than 20% of students qualify for special education. Idaho and Hawaii are outliers for having the lowest special education enrollment rates in the nation, with just 12% of students qualifying for services.

The varying rates call into question whether disability diagnoses are objective or subjective, which could mean schools are over or under-diagnosing students in need, Roza said in a webinar presentation. 

And Idaho falls into the latter category, according to the results of a federal inquiry. For years, Idaho was setting too high of a bar for which students could qualify as having a “specific learning disability,” a category of disorders including dyslexia. 

That tracks with national research from the Edunomics Lab, which singled Idaho out for having one of the lowest qualifying rates for specific learning disability in the nation. 

The state has now changed its special education manual to address the issue — making a minor but significant tweak that could lead to thousands more Idaho students receiving special education services. 

That means special education enrollment will tick up — and so will costs.

Idaho Education News data analyst Randy Schrader contributed to this report.