Cyndi Loza

Last fall, 63-year-old Susan Holaski did not think she would soon retire from her work as a physical therapist for Marvin Picollo School.

“But when this was the last year that we could get on the state insurance program, it was sort of the universe pushing me into making the decision,” said Holaski, who has worked as a physical therapist at the special education school for nearly 29 years.

School officials fear a shortage of experienced special education teachers and staff in the Washoe County School District after 13 of 31 special education teachers and staff who answered a fall survey said they are retiring this year because of a bill passed last year by the state Legislature.

“We have shortages every year,” said Joyce Dobra, a special education administrator for the school district. “We’re just going to suffer even more next year due to the number of people retiring.”

Special education teachers are difficult to recruit in the district, spokesman Steve Mulvenon said.

“The thought that we might see 13 of our current ones retire is a major concern,” he said.

In addition to the 13 special education teachers who said they would retire, nine said that they would consider retirement.

Losing state subsidy

Before the survey, some feared a mass departure of experienced educators districtwide. But the number of administrators and teachers who said they are leaving mirrors the number that have left each year, Mulvenon said.

A total of 368 school district employees of 700 surveyed responded to the survey. Of those, 111 said they would retire and 140 said they were considering retirement.

It is normal to have roughly 250 school district employees retire each year, Mulvenon said.

One of them, Brown Elementary School Principal Jacques Maye, said losing a state subsidy to his health insurance premiums encouraged his retirement decision, too.

“For people who are in their 29-, 30-plus-year range, I think it’s a pretty big incentive to retire,” said Maye, who has worked in the school district as an elementary school principal for 14 years and as a teacher for 17 years.

Change in benefits

Under Senate Bill 544, local government employees must retire by Sept. 1, 2008, if they want to remain in the state’s Public Employees’ Benefits Program by the Nov. 30 enrollment deadline.

If they do not retire in September, they will lose a state subsidy to their health insurance premiums, which range from $91 to $502 a month.

The change will affect all employees who work for local governments and governmental agencies, including teachers, principals and other administrators in school districts across Nevada.

Concerned with losing experienced educators, Mulvenon said the school district surveyed 700 employees eligible to retire to get an estimate of the number of employees who may opt to retire early.

The survey did not ask the reason for retirement, but Dobra said she is certain special education teachers are choosing to retire as a result of the new state requirement.

“I don’t think there’s any question at all,” Dobra said. “That’s exactly what’s driving this retirement.”

There are about 632 special education teachers in the school district but recruiting teachers to meet the demand is a challenge, Dobra said.

She said teachers are required to have a general education or special education license to teach. Teachers with a general education can teach in the classroom while pursuing a special education license at a local college.

“Special-ed is a hard job,” Dobra said. “A teacher not only has to understand the general education curriculum but the special-ed part.”

Dobra said the district is looking to work with the local colleges and the Nevada Department of Education to find more ways to speed up the process to distribute licenses to aspiring special education teachers.

Students with disabilities

Dr. George Giuliani, an executive director of the National Association of Special Education Teachers, said the need in Washoe County mirrors the demand for special education teachers nationwide.

Currently, more special education teachers are teaming up with general education teachers to help include more students with disabilities in the general school setting, Giuliani said.

“If children with disabilities can be educated in the general education population, there is no basis to exclude them,” said Giuliani, a professor at Hofstra University’s School of Education

About 12.7 percent of all public school teachers in the U.S. primarily teach special education students, said Kerry Gruber, project director for the Schools and Staffing Survey 2003-04 of the National Center for Education Statistics.

“But the need for these teachers is much greater than what the supply is — that is for sure,” Giuliani said.

Holaski said she is hopeful for the future.

“I don’t have much money put away. And I have a number of companion animals, and life can get kind of expensive, but I just figure somehow it’s going to work,” said Holaski, who takes care of her 96-year-old mother, five cats, a dog and a rabbit.