Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) is compiling what district officials are calling “perhaps one of the most challenging budgets to prepare in the past 20 years” for the coming academic year, and $18 million worth of special education funding is on the chopping block.
WCPSS will eliminate about 130 special education teacher positions next school year, according to an email to staff last week by Lisa Allred, the assistant superintendent for special education services. Since WCPSS currently has 1,453 special education teachers according to district spokesperson Lisa Luten, that translates to a 9% reduction in force.
The cuts will affect cross-categorical resource special education teachers, who do not teach within a single classroom but instead support special education students and implement their individual education plans, or IEPs, school-wide…