Also called: Director of Student Services, Special education administrator
Runs a school district's special education services for thousands of students with disabilities.
Special ed directors make sure every student's Individualized Education Program (IEP) is followed, hire teachers and therapists, manage multimillion-dollar budgets, handle legal disputes with families, and meet federal law requirements.
Estimate based on BLS K-12 administrators.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Master's degree, about 10 years after high school. Master's in special education or administration, administrator license, and years of teaching.
Ways in: Graduate school, Certification. Training cost: $60k – $150k.
Majors to look at: Special Education, Educational Leadership.
Growing about average. Steady; critical role in every district.
Low risk for 10 years. AI helps draft compliance reports and track IEP deadlines; legal disputes, hiring and hard talks with families stay human.
Classes: Government, Psychology, Speech or debate.
Official data: O*NET occupation 11-9032.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.