Parents and teachers warn special education staffing may not add up

What happened

At the budget hearing on April 29, 2026 a teacher of 28 years told the board that with four secondary special education teachers cut there appears to be no mathematical way for the district to staff certified teachers in in-class support positions in 2026-27, leaving those places to be filled by staffing-agency personnel who are not certified special education teachers. She and two parents set out the distinction between in-class resource support, which needs a certified special education teacher, and in-class support, which does not, and warned that without it some students would need a more restrictive placement. Parents told the board this exposes the district to state complaints, due process claims and the cost of compensatory services. The teachers' association president said on the same night and again on May 18 that she still did not know the plan. No plan was published in the records collected for this page. Administrators explained only that the cuts fell on pull-out replacement posts, and that the middle school had as many of them as the high school despite half the caseload.

Why it matters to families

Support written into a child's individualised education programme is a legal entitlement, not a service the district can scale to its budget, and who delivers it matters: a certified special education teacher and an agency aide are not interchangeable in law. The district said every requirement in an individualised education programme and 504 plan would still be met. Because no staffing plan has been published, families cannot check that for themselves, which is why speakers urged parents to ask for a meeting before signing a new programme.

The evidence

The April 29, 2026 meeting recording contains the teacher's statement that four secondary special education teachers were cut and that there appears to be no mathematical way to staff certified in-class support, the parents' explanation of in-class resource against in-class support and the warnings about compliance and compensatory services, the association president's statement that she still did not know the plan, and the administration's explanation that the cuts fell on pull-out replacement positions and its assurance that programme and plan requirements would be met. The May 18, 2026 recording records the association repeating that no clear plan for special education had been provided.

The source