What Parents Don’t See: Why Teachers Can’t Explain the Disruptions in Their Child’s Classroom
I have always believed that holding children accountable for their actions is part of preparing them to become responsible adults. As a teacher for more than twenty years, I often heard colleagues say, “We can’t hold him accountable because his action was a part of his documented disability.” At times this was absolutely correct. For example, a child with Tourette’s Syndrome should not face punishment for verbal outbursts that are involuntary. The problem arises when this reasoning is applied too broadly. In many schools, students with severe behavioral outbursts, including aggression and actions that endanger others, are excused on the grounds that their behavior is “part of their disability.”
Special education law in the United States is designed to protect students with disabilities from discrimination and to guarantee that they receive a free appropriate public education. These protections are necessary, but in practice they have been applied so generally that students who cannot function in general education classrooms are often kept there with insufficient supports. The doctrine of “least restrictive environment” is sometimes stretched so far that it leaves teachers and other students unprotected. While the student with a disability is shielded from consequences, classmates lose instructional time and are denied the safe and orderly classroom they are also promised under the law.
Part of the difficulty lies in the procedures schools are legally required to follow. Federal regulations demand that schools demonstrate they have tried a series of interventions and supports, often over extended periods of time, before considering moving a student to a more restrictive setting. These interventions can include behavior charts, counseling, small group instruction, or modifications to classroom routines. During this lengthy process the student often remains in the general education classroom, even if their behavior is dangerous or chronically disruptive. Teachers and classmates may endure weeks or months of interruptions before the school is legally able to recommend a different placement.
Complicating matters further are strict privacy laws. Teachers cannot share with other parents the reasons for a student’s behavior, or the interventions being put in place to address it. This means that when a child is throwing chairs, shouting, or hitting classmates, the other parents only see the disruption without any context. To them it appears that the teacher or the school is ignoring the problem. The general education teacher, who is legally forbidden from explaining, becomes the target of frustration and even hostility from families who believe the classroom is out of control. This dynamic creates immense stress for the teacher, who is doing everything required behind the scenes but is powerless to show it, and it creates mistrust and tension among parents and students.
Schools also fear the consequences of making the “wrong” decision. If a district is judged to have removed a child from a general education setting too quickly, it can face lawsuits, formal complaints, or regulatory actions from state or federal agencies. Litigation in special education is extremely costly. Even a single case can cost a district tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees and settlements, not to mention the risk of corrective action plans or loss of funding. Faced with the choice of keeping a disruptive student in the general classroom or risking financial penalties and legal battles, administrators often choose to err on the side of inclusion, even when it is no longer working.
The financial structure of special education contributes to this problem. When Congress passed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act in 1975, later renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), it promised to cover up to 40 percent of the “excess cost” of educating students with disabilities. That promise has never been kept. In fact, federal contributions have hovered between 13 and 15 percent for decades. The highest ever was 15.7 percent in 2020, still far short of the original pledge. As a result, states and local school districts are forced to cover roughly 85 percent of the cost of federally mandated services. In other words, districts are required to provide one hundred percent of the services with little more than a fraction of the intended funding.
Because of this funding gap, schools often lack the specialized programs, behavioral therapists, and support staff that students truly need. Instead, the responsibilities fall on general education teachers. Yet the typical general education teacher receives only one course in college that introduces the basics of special education, and in some programs a second class that touches briefly on inclusion strategies. These courses rarely prepare teachers to manage intensive behavioral needs, conduct functional behavioral assessments, or implement complex intervention plans. Once in the field, teachers may receive a handful of professional development workshops each year, but this is nowhere near the level of training needed to handle aggressive or disruptive behaviors that can halt learning for an entire class.
Special education teachers are also stretched to their limits. Although states may set caseload limits, districts regularly obtain waivers on the grounds that they cannot find enough certified staff or cannot afford them. Caseloads that are supposed to range from 15 to 25 students may balloon to 30 or 40. Special education teachers do far more than teach. They are responsible for writing and updating Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), scheduling and leading meetings, coordinating with multiple general education teachers, collecting and analyzing progress data, communicating with parents, supervising paraprofessionals, and staying current with complex federal and state regulations. Each IEP can take several hours to draft and revise, and each student requires multiple meetings per year. The workload becomes overwhelming, especially when students represent a wide range of disability categories such as autism, emotional disturbance, ADHD, or learning disabilities.
Paraprofessionals are often assigned to help, but they are usually part-time, hourly employees with limited training and no benefits. They may be tasked with serving several students at once, and general education teachers are expected to rely on them even though they have no role in hiring or supervising these aides. This patchwork system leaves teachers feeling unsupported and students without the consistency they need.
The Government Accountability Office reported in 2019 that teachers frequently lack the training, resources, and staff support necessary to manage the behavioral needs of students with disabilities. One district required teachers to record a child’s behavior every five minutes throughout the day as part of a mandated intervention plan. Teachers reported that this documentation consumed more time than actually teaching the rest of the class. Research has consistently shown that when even one or two students engage in extreme disruptive or violent behavior, it reduces instructional time and academic progress for everyone present.
Schools are placed in a no-win situation. General education teachers must manage dangerous behaviors without the training, staff, or backup to do so effectively. They are expected to implement behavior plans while simultaneously teaching twenty or more other students. If the student with the IEP does not succeed, the teacher is blamed for failing to follow the accommodations. If the rest of the class falls behind, the teacher is blamed for poor classroom management. In reality, both outcomes are driven by systemic underfunding, legal pressures, and unrealistic expectations.
The result is that Congress continues to underfund IDEA by tens of billions of dollars each year, and schools, fearing lawsuits and regulatory penalties, lean on general education teachers to fill the gaps. At the same time, privacy laws prevent teachers from explaining to parents what is happening, leaving them unfairly viewed as ineffective or uncaring. This unsustainable situation is one of the major reasons teachers leave the profession. Until IDEA is funded at the level originally promised, and schools are able to provide the necessary staff and programs, classrooms will continue to operate in crisis mode, to the detriment of all students.
This issue is not simply a matter for teachers and administrators. It affects every parent and every child in our public schools. Students with disabilities deserve appropriate services delivered in safe and supportive environments, and their peers deserve classrooms where they can learn without constant disruption or fear. Teachers deserve the training, resources, and staffing they need to do their jobs effectively. None of this is possible without Congress fulfilling its decades-old promise to fund IDEA at the level originally intended.
Families, communities, and policymakers must recognize that underfunding and overgeneralized regulations are straining schools to the breaking point. If we want to retain skilled teachers, safeguard the rights of students with disabilities, and protect the learning opportunities of all children, we must push for reform. That means demanding full federal funding, expanding access to specialized programs, and giving schools the authority and resources to intervene earlier when dangerous behaviors occur. Until then, classrooms across America will remain caught in a cycle of disruption and frustration that serves no one well.
by Jan Mariet 10/29/2025
