Special education in Massachusetts is hitting a breaking point. Districts are losing licensed special-education teachers faster than they can hire them, and students with disabilities are paying the price. Classes are being merged, substitutes are filling in for months at a time and services that are supposed to be consistent are anything but. Families and principals say the churn is stalling hard-won progress for kids who rely on steady, specialized support, from the smallest towns to the largest urban systems.
Numbers show the gap widening
The need is rising even as the talent pool shrinks. State data show that students with disabilities now make up about 21.1% of public school enrollment, according to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and…..