This year, WFYI reporters tackled tough education stories – from teacher and classroom aide shortages, to major changes coming to the Indianapolis Public Schools district.

Schools across the country struggle to hire enough special education teachers and paraprofessionals. The shortage is so severe at one Indiana school that parents and educators worry it’s unsafe. They blame the problem on years of low pay and a reliance on inexperienced and unqualified staff.

When schools don’t have enough special education teaching assistants, it’s a problem for the whole system.

A new Indiana training program will prepare current educators for permits in mild or intense intervention as the state faces a shortage of special education teachers.

In Hawaii, hiring qualified special education teachers became a lot easier after schools started offering a $10,000 pay bump.

When schools can't find a licensed special education teacher, they hire people who are willing to do the job, but lack the training. It's a practice that concerns some special education experts.

The Indiana State Board of Education approved a new temporary, special education teaching license designed to help schools address the special education teacher shortage.

Indiana will spend $2 million to help fully license special education teachers by offering scholarships for required training and streamlining required coursework.

Indiana is scrambling to correct a longstanding violation of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and it plans to stop issuing emergency permits for special education teachers in less than nine months.

Indiana lawmakers worry the state’s rush to end emergency permits for special education teachers will leave schools with unfilled positions to help students with disabilities.