Frontline educators tell Alaska House panel shortages hinder special education; presenters urge increase to BSA (HB 69)

Juneau — Frontline special-education staff told the Alaska House Education Committee on Wednesday that wide staffing shortages, rising caseloads and heavy reliance on out-of-state contractors are forcing districts to deliver federally required services in makeshift ways and urged the Legislature to increase the Base Student Allocation.

Tom Claymyer, president of NEA Alaska, opened the invited testimony by calling special-education work “very specialized, challenging and much-needed” and said it is “Alaska's hardest-to-fill” category of education jobs. “These rules are not suggestions. They're legal obligations,” Claymyer told the committee, urging lawmakers to consider funding and statutory changes that would help districts meet requirements under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

The workforce shortage was underscored by several practitioners who described daily strains on services. Kim Ward Massey, a speech-language pathologist with more than 20 years' experience in Alaska, said Anchorage School District employs about 76 speech-language pathologists and relies on roughly 21 teletherapy contractors living outside Alaska. “The additional cost to our district for the 21 paraprofessionals that we have and the technology used to connect them is approximately $1,200,000,” Massey said, adding that teletherapy contractors are used because districts cannot recruit enough in-person specialists.

Josh Bedard, an intensive-needs paraprofessional at Seward Middle School, said he was currently the only full-time permanent special-education staffer at his school and described long stretches covered by long-term substitutes and a half-time contracted teacher. “We had to constantly coordinate in order to meet the needs of our students, and I was often working past contract hours,” Bedard said, and he urged a “meaningful and permanent increase to the BSA” so districts can offer competitive wages and retain staff.

Juneau School District occupational therapist Jada Call described a caseload “over 40 students,” routine work that includes direct therapy, IEP writing, progress reports and crisis support, and multiple vacancies that forced her to cover students not on her caseload. “The workload that we are asked to do with fewer and fewer resources is mind blowing,” Call said. She urged the committee to “appropriately fund education to cap case loads by using tools such as a workload calculator.”

Don Enoch, director of special education for the State of Alaska, clarified eligibility and intensive-needs rules used in state practice. Enoch listed the 14 IDEA-category eligibility areas, and summarized the state’s seven criteria for an intensive-needs designation, including daily direct instruction by a certified special-education teacher (or comparable certificate), multiple supervised services, continuous special-education programming, individual 1:1 care as needed and special transportation when required.

Committee members pressed for more granular vacancy data by region. Claymyer said the testimony did not include district-by-district breakdowns but that statewide vacancy data is available on the Alaska Teachers and Personnel recruitment site and that, anecdotally, shortages grow “the further off the road system you get.” A committee member asked staff to follow up with more detailed district and regional vacancy figures.

Several presenters tied their staffing recommendations to House Bill 69, a proposal to increase the Base Student Allocation (BSA). Massey explicitly asked lawmakers to “vote yes on House Bill 69 and increase the base student allocation or BSA,” saying higher BSA would let districts pay competitive salaries, reduce caseloads and reduce reliance on remote contractors.

No formal committee action was taken on HB 69 during the March 5 meeting. The chair noted administrative business at the end of the hearing: an amendment deadline for House Bill 57 (communication devices in public schools) was due the same day at 3 p.m., and the Senate Education Committee was scheduled to hear related testimony later that day.

Why it matters: Special-education services are governed by the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which requires districts to provide a free, appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment. Presenters told the committee that Alaska’s geography, rising incidence of some diagnoses and persistent vacancies make compliance and consistent service delivery difficult without additional funding and workforce strategies.

The committee requested follow-up information, including more detailed vacancy and hiring-cost data by district and region, and the presenters noted the State Board of Education would hear a similar presentation during its March meetings in Juneau.