Special education teachers in Omaha Public Schools will now receive a 10% variance on top of their $50,500 base teacher salary, the OPS Board of Education decided at its Jan. 11 meeting.  

The 10% variance is a 3% increase from the former 7% variance, meaning special educators will get an additional 10% of their salary on top of their base salary, according to school board documents. 

The three-year contract is from 2023-2026, and teachers will receive backpay from Aug. 1, 2023.  It was negotiated by the Omaha Education Association and OPS and received wide support from both district officials and special education teachers. 

Gregory Betts, the executive director of human resources for OPS, said these raises were necessary to make sure special education teachers feel appreciated for the hard work they do, including managing individualized educational programs (IEPs), attending long meetings and filling out lots of paperwork, along with other duties that come with being an educator. “There’s always that conversation of making sure our staff are supported,” he said.  

Another reason the district believed the raise was necessary is the ongoing special education staffing shortage. “We have a significant shortage of special education teachers K-12,” Betts said, while adding he didn’t have a specific number of open positions. The problem isn’t unique to OPS, as 65% of public schools in the United States are understaffed in special education, according to the Institute of Education Sciences.  

Central is one of the understaffed schools, with 287 students with IEPs but only seven full-time special education teachers, one part-time teacher, one speech and language pathologist, and one Alternative Curriculum Program teacher. “Our caseloads are very heavy,” said Julianne Fant, Central’s special education department head.  

Fant explained that every single IEP demands lots of communication, coordination and paperwork, and that when caseloads are hefty, it can get stressful to make sure every student gets the best outcome. “Time is something that is a challenge for us here at Central [with such large caseloads],” she said.  

Despite the difficulties with staffing and more work to do, Fant believes the raise will show special education teachers at Central and in the district that they are acknowledged and appreciated. “It was nice to see that we are receiving this pay increase,” she said.  

Both Fant and Betts believe the pay raise will help recruit and retain special education teachers. 

“If caseloads go down [due to increased staffing], that’s a win for everyone,” Betts said. But he also acknowledged that there is more to the job than just the paycheck.  

Fant wants new special education teachers to have proper training and appropriate professional development so they feel comfortable and confident in their position.  

Apart from the pay raise and increased training, OPS is utilizing current high school students to address issues with special education. Betts said the Teaching as a Profession pathway is opening students up to opportunities into what being a special educator is like. As students complete the pathway and graduate from high school, they are better equipped to enter the education field, and OPS remains connected with them.  

“We love our OPS grads who come back … we want them to come back and work for us,” Betts said. By increasing the amount of current high schoolers who go into the education field, the district is setting itself up to help relieve staffing shortages, he said. 

“I feel we can only go up from here,” Fant said when regarding the future of special education at Central. If the district can recruit and retain more teachers through solutions like the pay raise, she believes special education and students will be very well off. She tells students interested in a career as a special education teacher, “It is one of the most rewarding careers.”