US faces shortage of special ed teachers

The United States is facing severe shortage of qualified special education teachers due to high attrition rates, according to a report by the national weekly magazine Education Week.

The Education Week reported that special education teachers are frustrated and disillusioned by the job, which comes with more time-consuming duties and legal responsibilities than teaching in other fields — usually without additional pay.

The CNMI shares the same predicament, according to Franklin R. Perez, special education program coordinator of the local Public School System.

Throughout the CNMI, Perez said, there are a total of 49 special education teachers that include locally and federally-funded positions.

Perez said PSS is set to hire six more special education teachers.

With 426 students enrolled under the Special Education Program, Perez said PSS should be needing 17 more, but only six positions are funded by Public Law 11-41.

For Fiscal 1999, P.L. 11-41 has appropriated $9.32 million for personnel costs, which is 10 percent less than the previous fiscal year’s level.

Perez said PSS, just like other education agencies in the US, can hardly keep special education in that field.

“Some of them want to switch into administration work; others just want to take a break from special education and try other fields of teaching,” Perez said.

“Special education teachers have more responsibilities and they have to make sure they follow federal guidelines. But they are paid the same salary rate as regular teachers,” Perez said.

A recent survey in the U.S. found that “about 7.2 percent of teachers in special education switch to general education each year. But fewer than 1 percent of general educators switch to special education.”

Another survey by the American Association for Employment in Education, cited “considerable shortage” in six special teaching specialties: behavioral disorders, multiple handicapped, learning disabled, physically impaired, learning disabled, physically impaired and mentally handicapped.”

“Such shortfalls in filling jobs have plagued the field for years and show no signs of easing,” according to the Education Week.

George Ann Rice, superintendent for personnel in Clark County, Nevada said, “This isn’t a next-year problems: this is a rest-of-our-careers concern.”

Aside from the unattractive salary rates, the required preparation of paper work and documentation related to individualized education plan or IEP are driving thousands of special education teachers to either transfer to regular classes or leave the profession.

According to Education Week, the IEP process has taken away much needed time for individual instruction and lesson planning, contributing to teachers’ stress and burnout rates. IEP spells out the educational services a student with disabilities must receive.

A survey conducted last year by the Council for Exceptional Children, cited paper work and unmanageable case loads as the largest obstacles for especial education teachers.