A shortage of special education teachers has Danville School District 118 considering entering contract agreements through an outside firm.
As of Friday, District 118 was short 9 special education teachers for the up-coming school year. John Hart, Assistant Superintendent for Elementary Education, says Danville is not the only school district facing the problem. Champaign still needed to fill three special education slots at last report. Urbana needs six and Decatur has 16 special education vacancies. The Bloomington-Normal area is in need of 14 special education teachers.
Of the 6,000 students in Danville School District 118, Hart says 19-percent of them require special education services. But he quickly notes that number includes students who only need speech services.
Hart says more and more special education teachers are going to work for contract agencies instead of signing contracts with individual school districts. He notes working through the agency allows them more flexibility. And Hart expects such arrangements to grow in other areas, too, such as foreign language instructors.
