Districts across multiple states are missing mandated IEP minutes and spending large amounts of staff time managing special-education vacancies, according to a 2026 Gather survey of more than 100 superintendents in seven states. The data found 65% of districts are short on required minutes tied to IEP services, and nearly half report spending 40 or more hours per month handling the downstream fallout. The report frames provider shortages as both an operational and student-impact issue: when positions go unfilled, IEP-related services slip and remaining staff absorb responsibilities, affecting consistency of support for students who rely on scheduled services. In a companion webinar, district leaders are set to discuss what stable IEP service delivery looks like amid provider vacancies, and outline examples of approaches that districts say have worked—plus what has not.