Special Education Faces Consequences of Cutbacks

By Wyatt Clegg

October 14th, 2026

As school districts across the United States face recent administrative shifts, funding battles, historic staffing shortages, and surging enrollment in specialized education programs, several Deering educators spoke out about challenges facing special education services in Portland Public Schools at a school board meeting on September 22, 2026.

 “It is an equity topic that intersects with every facet of student identities. It crosses race, gender, and abilities. It may be the widest and most deeply impactful equity issue in this district," said Becca Boggs, Deering Functional Life Skills teacher.

Stories like this are appearing across the United States with concerns about teacher burnout, poor working conditions, outsourcing, lack of available pay, and a continued widening gap between student needs and available state or federal resources. Other districts like Spruce Mountain schools in Jay, Maine reported having zero certified teaching applicants for open special education positions, forcing them to contract with virtual learning companies to cover middle and high school education according to WGME. Currently, the federal government is looking to dismantle the Department of Education, which oversees compliance with the law across school districts in every state including the The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). IDEA is a federal law guaranteeing students with disabilities receive a public education tailored to their unique needs, which ensures eligible children have access to special education and related services designed to prepare them for further education, employment, and independent living.

“When I started teaching over thirty years ago, [lack of special education funding] was an issue, and over the years this has gotten progressively worse. What is different now, though, are the very real threats to IDEA from the federal government,” said Kerrie Dowdy, President of the Portland Education Association. When asked how a lack of funding affects teaching in special education classrooms, Dowdy spoke about how the issue of Inadequate funding has only increased over time. According to the National Education Association, as of January 21, 2026 the federal government has failed to meet its promise to fund 40% of the average per-pupil cost for special education under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This continues to raise concerns about government involvement in special education programs, and a possible shift toward reduced civil rights protections, severe funding strains on local communities, and possible regional inequities for students with disabilities under the current administration.

“School budgets are getting tighter and tighter; federal and state funding formulas are no friend to local public school budgets that, especially in Portland, are primarily funded on the backs of the taxpayers who live in a state where the living wage is not keeping up with rising property taxes. What I see now is the battle of priorities.  Some voters and taxpayers are single-issue. We in the union like to say the school budget is a reflection of our priorities. There are a lot of people with a lot of different priorities, and Special Education is often overlooked,” Dowdy said. Dowdy continued to say the biggest gap in resources she is seeing is from diminishing state and federal educational funding and subsequent decreased allocation of funds to special education programs. 

In Deering High School specifically, Carla Gill, a special education coordinator, shared a few words on her experiences both relating to her workload and teacher retention among special education related services. 

“My workload is separate from the level of vacancies. So that's two separate things and, no, my workload hasn't changed with that. I'm always busy. And it's not an eight to five job or an eight to three job, and that's okay. The people that go into education know that. It's a vocation for most of us rather than a job. And the word vocation is a really telling level of commitment that we have to our students and families,” said Gill. 

Overall, there has been a decline in teachers applying for special education positions, but Gill says she has started to see that shift through partnerships with local Maine colleges and a mentorship program she participates in.

“We're definitely seeing the numbers increase for people coming into education and staying, not just getting into it and leaving. Several years ago, 50% of special ed teachers were leaving after their first five years. So that's crazy, a huge amount of loss. We needed to really go head on and face that, that data and see why. Why are people not staying? And now they are because they're being provided that mentoring. It's very exciting times,” Gill said.

Special education services often are overlooked and the issues they face ignored, but solutions to these issues are critical in the long term survival of these vital programs.

“I think in addition to alternative funding sources, if there was an honest spotlight on special education services, there could be a reckoning and a re-evaluation of our priorities as reflected in the decisions made when putting together our school budget," said Dowdy.