SyncIEP research

Special education teacher shortage statistics

Special education teacher shortage statistics usually get quoted secondhand. This report computes them straight from 13 years of federal IDEA Section 618 files, with a permalink and a source for every number. The short version: students with IEPs hit an all-time high while the certified teacher supply barely moved.

The numbers

Students with IEPs

2012-13 to 2024-25

+25.7%

8,081,816 students ages 3 to 21 in 2024-25, an all-time high. Growth computed on the 50-state comparable panel.

Teachers not fully certified

2017-18 to 2023-24

+56.2%

Now 9.0% of all special education teacher FTE, roughly double the 4.4% flagged in 2012-13 under the predecessor measure.

Fully certified teachers

2021-22 to 2023-24

+0.6%

Essentially flat across the 50 states reporting in both years, while students grew +8.1% and not-fully-certified FTE grew +23.9% in the same window.

489,593

2023-24

Special education teacher FTE employed nationwide.

IDEA Section 618 personnel, 50 reporting states

579,260

2023-24

Special education paraprofessional FTE, now outnumbering the 489,593 teacher FTE.

IDEA Section 618 personnel files

15.7%

2024-25

Share of K-12 public school students with an IEP, up from 11.7% in 2012-13.

IDEA child count ÷ NCES CCD K-12 membership

Students kept coming. Certified teachers did not.

Indexed to 100 in 2012-13, students with IEPs reached 126 by 2024-25, a +25.7% rise on the comparable panel. Not-fully-certified teacher FTE reached 248. Total teacher FTE and paraprofessional FTE grew far more slowly, and the dashed line marks where the federal certification measure itself changed.

Chart loads with JavaScript; the same numbers are in the table below.
Students with IEPsSpecial education teacher FTENot fully certified teacher FTEParaprofessional FTE
Indexed levels (2012-13 = 100), chain-linked over each year pair's common panel of reporting states. Selected years; the full series is in the CSV download.
School yearStudents with IEPsTeacher FTENot fully certifiedPara FTE
2012-13100100100100
2017-18108.36107.35159.05111.55
2021-22113122.22199.66117.08
2022-23117.03122.37226.2121.14
2023-24121.95125.09247.6127.46
2024-25125.67n/an/an/a

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<a href="https://synciep.com/research/special-education-teacher-shortage-statistics#chart-indexed-growth"><img src="https://synciep.com/images/research/staffing-gap-hero-indexed.png" alt="Chart: students with IEPs at an all-time high while certified special education teacher supply stays flat, 2012-13 to 2024-25" width="960" style="max-width:100%;height:auto"></a>

How many special education teachers are in the US?

Public schools in the 50 states and DC employed 489,593 special education teacher FTE in 2023-24, the most recent federal personnel file. Of those, 445,554 were fully certified and 44,039 were not, which is 9.0% of the workforce. They were joined by 579,260 special education paraprofessional FTE, meaning paras now outnumber teachers.

The two-year trend is the sharpest version of the story: across the 50 states reporting in both 2021-22 and 2023-24, fully certified FTE moved +0.6% while not-fully-certified FTE moved +23.9% and students grew +8.1%. Growth in headcount is coming from teachers who are not fully certified for the role.

What percentage of students have IEPs?

In 2024-25, school-age students with IEPs equaled 15.7% of K-12 public school membership nationally, up from 11.7% in 2012-13. Counting all ages 3 to 21, 8,081,816 children were served under IDEA Part B in 2024-25.

The rate uses school-age IEP counts divided by K-12 membership from the same school year. Overall enrollment has been declining since the pandemic while IEP counts rise, so both the numerator and the denominator push the rate up.

The certification gap, year by year

4.4% of special education teacher FTE was flagged under the federal quality measure in 2012-13. By 2023-24 the not-fully-certified share reached 9.0%. Within the current measure alone, not-fully-certified FTE grew +56.2% from 2017-18 to 2023-24 on the comparable panel.

Chart loads with JavaScript; the same numbers are in the table below.
Share of special education teacher FTE reported as not fully certified (through 2016-17: not highly qualified, the predecessor federal measure).

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<a href="https://synciep.com/research/special-education-teacher-shortage-statistics#chart-not-certified-share"><img src="https://synciep.com/images/research/staffing-gap-since-2021.png" alt="Chart: certified special education teacher FTE nearly flat since 2021-22 while students with IEPs and uncertified hires grow" width="960" style="max-width:100%;height:auto"></a>

Find your state

Indiana (31.3%), Louisiana (27.8%), Delaware (27.6%), District of Columbia (26.7%), Texas (24.2%) report the highest shares of not-fully-certified special education teachers as of 2023-24. At the other end, Florida, Iowa, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Dakota report 0%, which says more about how those states map their licenses onto the federal category than about their staffing, see the caveats below. Blank cells are state-years the Department of Education suppressed.

Alabama103,9305,7781.3%18.06,14514.1%
Alaska20,2631,12811.6%18.01,71015.4%
Arizona154,0298,7867.9%17.511,80113.6%
Arkansas81,7764,90913.0%16.72,80915.2%
California845,28745,0546.7%18.874,73714.0%
Colorado117,9096,5557.3%18.09,46813.4%
Connecticut91,8866,6965.8%13.712,20117.8%
Delaware28,6871,20527.6%23.82,62218.9%
District of Columbia16,4281,77926.7%9.296219.0%
Florida442,27221,6580.0%20.415,70615.2%
Georgia237,58621,4373.8%11.113,76513.6%
Hawaii20,2222,3675.1%8.53,02711.2%
Idaho39,8131,6311.1%24.41,96912.3%
Illinois306,75124,6991.9%12.436,65016.0%
Indiana193,8384,07431.3%47.69,80018.1%
Iowa72,5446,2180.0%11.713,47214.3%
Kansas82,2955,21714.0%15.811,12016.2%
Kentucky114,4448,0962.1%14.16,69816.5%
Louisiana88,2765,22127.8%16.97,74312.8%
Maine37,3072,1272.1%17.54,76621.6%
Maryland119,13810,50113.4%11.39,80712.8%
Massachusetts190,5069,47010.9%20.117,96120.5%
Michigan207,19512,2278.7%16.911,63214.5%
Minnesota158,87410,92617.3%14.514,95517.7%
Mississippi71,3856,3070.6%11.31,26016.1%
Missouri130,7539,5757.9%13.710,44913.9%
Montana21,5791,1557.5%18.71,82414.3%
Nebraska56,1593,32910.0%16.95,50916.9%
Nevada67,2494,4876.2%15.04,06113.8%
New Hampshire32,0191,9300.0%16.64,29918.7%
New Jersey254,86820,9220.0%12.214,76318.5%
New Mexico—————19.1%
New York546,56656,19317.9%9.771,24020.5%
North Carolina213,09912,1185.0%17.610,53513.4%
North Dakota18,1981,1920.0%15.31,46114.3%
Ohio286,39715,7553.9%18.22,70116.7%
Oklahoma125,7464,5151.9%27.95,96918.5%
Oregon90,7013,71517.2%24.47,31215.4%
Pennsylvania373,33823,5134.9%15.927,91520.7%
Rhode Island25,9431,6610.2%15.62,20318.2%
South Carolina114,4757,0491.8%16.25,65513.9%
South Dakota23,8831,3328.7%17.91,96516.3%
Tennessee135,5989,2202.6%14.79,70213.5%
Texas774,85938,88824.2%19.941,98215.4%
Utah95,4074,2484.8%22.56,27913.3%
Vermont16,1521,44211.7%11.22,66020.2%
Virginia184,77011,4748.5%16.114,51214.4%
Washington160,0788,0583.5%19.912,50514.3%
West Virginia49,9463,32919.9%15.02,25120.3%
Wisconsin126,4219,2203.1%13.76,82015.8%
Wyoming16,6191,20715.3%13.81,90516.4%

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<a href="https://synciep.com/research/special-education-teacher-shortage-statistics#find-your-state"><img src="https://synciep.com/images/research/staffing-gap-state-map.png" alt="Map: share of special education teachers not fully certified by state" width="960" style="max-width:100%;height:auto"></a>

Methodology

Personnel figures come from the U.S. Department of Education's IDEA Section 618 State Part B Personnel files, school years 2012-13 through 2023-24. Child counts come from the IDEA Section 618 State Part B Child Count and Educational Environments files, 2012-13 through 2024-25. Both series are published on data.ed.gov. Enrollment denominators come from the NCES Common Core of Data state nonfiscal membership files.

The dataset covers the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Territories, the freely associated states, the Bureau of Indian Education, and the files' own national aggregate rows are excluded before any sum. Ratios join metrics within a single school year, never across years. Growth claims are computed only over states reporting in both endpoint years, and the indexed chart series are chain-linked over each consecutive year pair's common panel, so a state suppressed in one federal file cannot bend a trend line.

Caveats that matter

  • The certification measure changed in 2017-18

    Through 2016-17 the federal personnel files measured teachers against the NCLB "highly qualified" standard; from 2017-18 they measure full state certification. Growth claims about certification therefore anchor to 2017-18 unless explicitly labeled as crossing the definition change.

  • Some state-years are suppressed in the federal source files

    The Department of Education withholds some state-years for data quality (marked -, *, or x in the source files). Those cells are null here, never zero: growth claims only compare states present in both endpoint years, and the chart indices chain over each year-pair's common panel. The affected state-years:

    LouisianaStudents with IEPs2020-21, 2021-22
    MaineStudents with IEPs2017-18
    MassachusettsTeacher FTE2022-23
    MinnesotaStudents with IEPs2017-18
    NebraskaStudents with IEPs2016-17
    New HampshirePara FTE2022-23
    New HampshireTeacher FTE2022-23
    New MexicoPara FTE2023-24
    New MexicoStudents with IEPs2023-24
    New MexicoTeacher FTE2023-24
    TexasPara FTE2016-17
    TexasTeacher FTE2016-17
    VermontPara FTE2017-18
    VermontStudents with IEPs2017-18
    VermontTeacher FTE2017-18
    WisconsinPara FTE2014-15
    WisconsinStudents with IEPs2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20
    WisconsinTeacher FTE2014-15
    WyomingStudents with IEPs2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15

  • A few states report zero not-fully-certified teachers

    States certify against their own licensure rules, and a reported 0% (see the state table) more likely reflects how a state maps its licenses onto the federal category than a workforce with no shortage.

  • Teacher counts are full-time equivalents, not people

    Personnel files report full-time-equivalent (FTE) positions. A state with many part-time staff has more people than FTE. Ratios here are students per FTE.

  • The school-age span widened in 2019-20

    Through 2018-19 the files split counts at ages 3-5 vs 6-21; from 2019-20 five-year-olds in kindergarten count as school-age. The ages 3-21 total is comparable across the break; the school-age subtotal and identification rate have a small definitional step at 2019-20.

  • How the identification rate is computed

    School-age students with IEPs divided by K-12 public school membership (NCES CCD state nonfiscal files, kindergarten through grade 13 plus ungraded, excluding pre-K and adult education), same school year. The ages 3-21 total is never divided by K-12 enrollment.

  • State ratio outliers

    Indiana reports the highest share of not-fully-certified special education teachers by a wide margin; its emergency-permit pipeline is well documented in state reporting, but treat single-state extremes as reporting-sensitive.

Exact source files

Every number traces to these federal files (filenames as published on data.ed.gov), plus the NCES CCD state nonfiscal membership file for each year:

bchildcountandedenvironments2012.csv · bchildcountandedenvironments2013.csv · bchildcountandedenvironments2014.csv · bchildcountandedenvironments2015.csv · bchildcountandedenvironments2016.csv · bchildcountandedenvironments2017-18.csv · bchildcountandedenvironments2018-19.csv · bchildcountandedenvironments2019-20.csv · bchildcountandedenvironment2020-21.csv · bchildcountandedenvironment2021-22.csv · bchildcountandedenvironment2022-23.csv · bchildcountandedenvironment2023-24.csv · bchildcountandedenvironment2024-25.csv · bpersonnel2012.csv · bpersonnel2013.csv · bpersonnel2014-15.csv · bpersonnel2015-16.csv · bpersonnel2016-17.csv · bpersonnel2017-18.csv · bpersonnel2018-19.csv · bpersonnel2019-20.csv · bpersonnel2020-21.csv · bpersonnel2021-22.csv · bpersonnel2022-23.csv · bpersonnel2023-24.csv

Update history

  • 2026-08-10Study created: 2012-13 through 2023-24 personnel files and 2012-13 through 2024-25 child count files ingested; first publication.

This page keeps its URL when new federal data lands; the report year in the title advances with each refresh.

Cite it, download it, embed it

The full state-by-year dataset behind every chart and sentence on this page is one CSV, free to reuse with attribution. If you write about these numbers, link the study so your readers can check the method.

APA

SyncIEP. (2026). The Special Education Staffing Gap: 2026 Report. https://synciep.com/research/special-education-teacher-shortage-statistics

MLA

SyncIEP. "The Special Education Staffing Gap: 2026 Report." SyncIEP Research, 2026, https://synciep.com/research/special-education-teacher-shortage-statistics.

Download the dataset (CSV)

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