EDUCATION Washington faces shortfall of qualified special education teachers, audit finds

Washington lacks qualified special education teachers and teachers’ aides, but the state doesn’t know how bad the problem really is — just that at least 1.5% of the teachers aren’t qualified for their jobs.

That’s according to a new state audit, which found that alongside high vacancy rates in special education, a “significant number of those in the classroom do not hold full teaching endorsements for special education or are comparatively inexperienced in this field.”

While the percentage may appear relatively small, it’s nearly three times higher than the percentage of instruction statewide provided by underqualified teachers in other content areas. The next highest percentage of under qualified instructors is in elementary education, at 0.6%, according to data from a 2024 Professional Educator Standards Board report.

Roughly 143,000 eligible students in Washington receive special education and related services, according to the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. The office did not immediately provide the exact number of total special education teachers in Washington, but reported 5,813 full-time equivalent classroom teachers in the special education program during the 2022-2023 school year.

https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2024/07/15/at-least-1-5-of-washington-special-education-teachers-not-qualified-report-finds/