The way that Indiana has met the on-going shortage of special education teachers has to change. For the past several years, Indiana has issued emergency teaching permits to meet the severe shortage in special education teachers. This year, the state granted 43% more emergency licenses than it did four years ago. But Federal law requires special Education teachers to be required to be fully licensed or meet new requirements for a provisional license. The sudden shift in policy is expected to be an added hardship for Indiana schools. Over 1,000 emergency special education licenses were issued by the State Board of Education this year. School administrators worry that the new policy will increase caseloads and worsen the special education teacher shortage.
