Although shortages of certified special education teachers occur in both rural and urban areas, they are more critical in rural districts, where recruitment can be problematic and there are few special educators on staff. In response to chronic shortages in the state, the Utah State Office of Education created a critical personnel shortages…

Utah is experiencing chronic, critical, special-educator shortages in all positions and disability areas, including speech and language pathologists and school psychologists. The Utah Attrition Study found that the most common reason for special education professionals leaving positions was "moving out of state," followed by personal…