Jonathan Butcher
Testimony before
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
November 15, 2024
Jonathan Butcher
Will Skillman Senior Research Fellow in Education Policy, Center for Education Policy
The Heritage Foundation
My name is Jonathan Butcher. I am the Will Skillman Senior Research Fellow in Education Policy in the Center for Education Policy at The Heritage Foundation.
The number of teachers trained to serve children with special needs is growing. Yet the number and share of children identified as eligible for special education services is already large and also expanding—creating a challenge for families, educators, and policymakers alike. The population of students with special needs is simply outpacing the number of special education personnel available to educate them. Parents and public officials who are seeking answers should look to state-level solutions, including the education choice options that, fortunately for all these stakeholders, are also increasing in kind and number nationwide. Furthermore, federal lawmakers can update the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) by giving families more choices over the private services they can use to help their students—relieving some of the pressure on public school administrators to find more educators for children with special needs. This testimony will review the data on children with special needs and the educators trained to teach them and propose solutions for helping students and their families.
First, this commission is appropriately considering the issue of educator supply for special needs students. Federal law deems the topic a civil rights issue in IDEA: It is “in the national interest” that lawmakers have a “supporting role in assisting state and local efforts” to educate children with physical and intellectual needs.REF Lawmakers have recognized there are federal, state, and local responsibilities for establishing and safeguarding “equal protection of the law” for these young people.REF
Second, the population of children with special needs is diverse, » Read More
https://www.heritage.org/education/report/education-choice-and-other-state-remedies-resolve-teacher-shortages-children