Special education director seeks staffing increases for 2025-26; board to post staffing plan for 30-day comment
Loading...
Summary
Director of Special Education Dr. Kendi Anderson presented a 2025-26 staffing plan that would add positions (including 12 behavioral technicians) and said the plan depends on grant and Medicaid revenue; the draft will be posted for 30 days for public comment.
Dr. Kendi Anderson, director of Special Education, presented the department's staffing plan for the 2025-26 school year and recommended personnel increases intended to put qualified staff in front of students across the district.
Anderson said the plan reflects recent growth in special-education services and lists a multi-year expansion of positions totaling 37.75 net new staff over three years when previously funded grant and Medicaid positions are included. She specifically identified an increase of 12 behavioral technician positions in the proposed plan and said other needs include additional speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists and supervisory oversight; Anderson argued for an additional supervisory position in FY27 to ensure proper oversight as staffing grows.
The presentation included past improvement metrics the department highlighted: the percentage of students served in least-restrictive environments (students in general education 80% or more of the day) increased from 56.7% in 2012-13 to an unofficial recent figure of about 81% (MSDE reported official figures for 2022-23 at 83.1% in prior reporting), and graduation rates for students with IEPs were cited above the state target (Calvert: 81.82% vs. state target ~70.75 for the 2022-23 reporting year, per Anderson's slide).
Anderson also provided a snapshot of current vacancies: she said that, as of a May 13 data pull, the department had 14 special-education teacher vacancies and 10 special-education assistant vacancies; she cautioned that staffing projections depend on grant and Medicaid revenue and recommended moving some positions from grant-funded status to local funding in FY27 to sustain services.
Board members asked about caseloads, recruiting and retention efforts, training for de-escalation, Medicaid billing and whether contracted or in-house repair capacity could relieve operational pressure. Anderson said CCPS is pursuing multiple recruitment strategies, tracking pipeline cohorts from universities, and expanding Medicaid-billable services. The board did not vote on the staffing plan; Anderson said the plan would be posted for the required 30-day public-comment period and returned with any changes.
