Why do schools struggle to find special education teachers?

Public schools are having difficulty filling vacancies for special education teachers.

For the 2024-2025 school year, 72% of public schools with vacancies for special education teachers experienced “difficulty” filling the positions, according to the Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics.

USA TODAY spoke with special education experts about the factors leading to a shortage of special education teachers and asked them about hiring solutions.

1. More resources for mental and professional help

Students who participate in special education classes have disabilities that affect the way they interact and learn, and the teachers who help them must be able to manage their different emotional and academic needs, says Deborah Schadler, interim -Dean for Student Success and Retention Initiatives and Director of the Autism Institute at Gwynedd Mercy University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Schadler said difficulties that arise from dealing with the “unpredictability of human behavior” in a classroom can deter people from filling the role or drive them away from the job after they start teaching.

Aron Boxer, a former special education teacher living in Greenwich, Connecticut, left his job as a public school teacher nearly nine years ago. Boxer enjoyed working with disabled students with “tough cases,” but the lack of support from administration and low pay drove him away from the job, he said.

“Special education is a rewarding job, but it is a tough job,” he said. “The children we work with have emotional disorders and because it is one of the most taxing jobs, teachers need to be mentally supported.”

After leaving the classroom, Boxer supervised special education at a private school for two years. Now he runs his own special education tutoring business in Greenwich, employing people with advanced degrees in the field.

He believes public schools should consider offering more support and extra pay to special education teachers to get them interested in the profession.

Still, the work can be rewarding for those who stick with it, says Schadler of Gwynedd Mercy University.

“The positives of my best day in a regular education classroom would not equal my best day in a special education classroom because the needs are unique,” Schadler said. “If you can meet those needs… there’s a sense of satisfaction.”

2. Help manage an overwhelming workload

Students in special education classrooms have individualized education programs, or IEPs, which are written plans that outline the types of education a student needs depending on their disability.

Schadler said the legal requirements lead to more paperwork and educational planning that comes on top of a general education teacher’s job.

“These things are taxing on some teachers and can leave them feeling lost and undriven,” Schadler said.

This is a time when schools are more likely to experience special education teacher departures, said Kimber Wilkinson, a professor of special education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. New teachers often tell her about their concerns about morale and the heavy workload once they take on a role at a school.

She recalled the paths of two special education teachers in Beloit, Wisconsin, who were “excited to return to teaching in the school district they attended,” but both left the profession shortly after starting. One had to take on additional student cases when another teacher left and the other felt the similar weight of the extra workload, she said.

“It’s not good to be stressed all the time,” she said. “These teachers are…precious resources.”

School administrators can help support and retain new teachers by checking in often to help them manage their workload, offering coaching and mentoring support and encouraging new special education teachers to speak up about their needs, Wilkinson said.

3. Alternatives to expensive, year-long college programs

Another challenge is attracting people to the profession, say Wilkinson of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Schadler of Gwynedd Mercy University.

First-year student registration dropped this year partly because of the high costs. Schadler said she has noticed a decline in the number of students participating in her school’s special education program.

“It seems like there are never enough special educators … but now there’s pretty much a large decline because people are teaching less in general, and especially in special education,” she said. Schadler thinks colleges will have to cultivate relationships with prospective students to attract them.

Some people in the field are trying an alternate route and using “creative solutions” — either by creating residency programs, which provide special education training and other pathways for people already connected to the disability community, Wilkinson said.

The goal is to “create a pathway into the profession” for people who have some connection to the disability community, such as those who work with people with disabilities in places other than a school, she said.

Contact Kayla Jimenez at [email protected]. Follow her on X at @kaylajjimenez.