If your child's IEP says a paraeducator will be with them for math, lunch, and transitions, and no paraeducator has shown up since November, you already know what a staffing vacancy looks like from a parent's side of the table. Connecticut just put a number on its version of that problem. As of February 2026, the state's public schools had 909 unfilled paraeducator positions, and 772 of them were special education roles.

On July 22, Governor Ned Lamont and the Connecticut State Department of Education opened registration for the Paraeducator Preparation Academy, a free six-week training course built to move people into those jobs. The first session runs August 17 through September 23 at the LEAD Center in East Hartford with 25 seats, and the state is aiming to train 200 to 250 new paraeducators in the program's first year.

What Connecticut Is Offering

The academy is free, and until now becoming a paraeducator in Connecticut was largely a self-financed project: you studied on your own and you paid for the ParaPathways Assessment yourself. The academy covers the study materials, provides in-person instruction from working teachers, runs practice tests, and waives the assessment fee. Candidates who already hold an associate's degree or two years of college coursework are exempt from the assessment but can still enroll.

Graduates who pass get connected to districts that are hiring, and once employed they are paired with an experienced paraeducator as a mentor. The program is funded through the state's special education training, education, and testing competitive grant, and it was built with Alliance School Districts, paraeducator unions, community organizations, and Educational Testing Service. Registration stays open through the first day of class, and the East Hartford session already has a waitlist. Additional sessions are planned across the state this fall through the SDE Talent Office.

"Paraeducators are essential members of our school communities, and Connecticut needs more talented people answering that call," Lamont said in the announcement.

Why the 772 Matters More Than the 250

Connecticut is one small state, and 772 unfilled special education aide positions is the count for one February. New York City alone carries roughly 1,600 paraprofessional vacancies by the United Federation of Teachers' estimate, and city paraprofessional salaries run from about $34,000 to $57,000 a year. Nationally the workforce is more than 1.2 million people, and Senator Ed Markey has reintroduced the PARA Educators Act to raise wages and build career pipelines into the role.

Connecticut's academy addresses the training cost and the licensing hurdle. It does not address pay, and pay is a large part of why these positions sit open. A parent reading this in Ohio or Arizona should read the 772 as a description of their district's problem too, because the vacancy pattern is national and the fix is still state by state.

The first cohort of 25 finishes testing in late September. Even if every graduate is hired immediately, that is 25 people entering Connecticut classrooms sometime in the fall against a shortage counted in the hundreds. Families whose children are waiting on aide support this school year should plan around the gap rather than the announcement.

An Unfilled Position Is Not an IEP Exemption

Under IDEA, a paraeducator service written into your child's IEP is a service the district committed to providing, and workforce coverage of the shortage tends to stop short of that point. A hiring shortage is a real operational problem for the district, and it is not a legal defense for failing to deliver what the IEP says. Districts cannot quietly reduce, suspend, or stop a service because the position is vacant. Changing the service requires an IEP team meeting and prior written notice to you, in writing, explaining what changed and why.

If your child has gone weeks or months without the aide support their IEP specifies, that is a potential denial of a free appropriate public education, and compensatory services are the standard remedy. The same principle applies whether the cause is a budget shortfall or an empty job posting, and it is the same reasoning behind IEP rights when your school cuts special education services.

What Families Can Do Now

Start by checking what the IEP says. Look for the service delivery grid and find the line specifying paraeducator or one-to-one support, including minutes per week and setting. Vague language such as "as needed" is much harder to enforce than "45 minutes daily, general education classroom."

Then document the gap. Write down the dates the support was not provided, and email the case manager asking in writing whether the position is currently staffed and on what dates the service was delivered. Email creates a record that a hallway conversation does not.

If the answer confirms a gap, request an IEP team meeting in writing and ask for prior written notice covering any change in service delivery. Ask directly about compensatory services for the missed time, and ask what the district's coverage plan is while the position is open. Districts sometimes have interim options, including reassigning an existing aide or contracting through an agency.

Connecticut families who want to work as paraeducators, or who know someone who might, can register at the SDE Talent Office page for the Paraeducator Preparation Academy before August 17. Families in other states can ask their state education agency whether a comparable free training pathway exists, since these programs are typically built from competitive federal grant funds that most states receive. For a fuller playbook on holding a district to its written commitments, see how to hold your school accountable when IEP services are cut.

The academy's next sessions have not been dated yet, and the state has said only that they will run across Connecticut this fall. Parents who have been told their district cannot find anyone now have something specific to ask about at the next IEP meeting: whether the district is recruiting through the academy, and what happens to their child's minutes until someone is hired.