D.C. school administrators can’t verify that their special education teachers are certified to serve the city’s most vulnerable and costliest student population, according to a highly critical monitoring report obtained by The Examiner.

The inspection, conducted by a U.S. Department of Education team in February, raises questions about the education level and readiness of teachers in the District, particularly in the special education program.

In the report, the monitors state that the State Superintendent’s Office is erroneously listing some special education teachers as qualified — based on federal guidelines for subject-matter specialties — even though they don’t have the proper training to lead special ed classrooms.

“The current Employed Educator Report does not indicate whether a special education teacher who is teaching core academic subjects has certification in special education,” the findings section states.

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As a result, federal inspectors ordered the state office on May 27 to come up with a comprehensive action plan within 30 days to correct the deficiency.

Maria Ibanez, spokeswoman for the State Superintendent’s Office, could not be reached for comment.

In the eyes of advocates, the lack of controls over teachers’ credentials is a serious problem.

David McBride, a former D.C. special education teacher who now counsels parents, cited the enormous number of special-education due process hearings as evidence that the system is far from fixed.

About 12,000 students in D.C. public schools are in special education programs, which cost taxpayers close to $300 million.

“A lot of those problems come down to officials not enforcing mandates about teacher qualifications,” he said. “They have to fill those classrooms with somebody, and they can’t worry about who it is.”

To be a certified special education teacher, instructors must have a master’s degree in the specialty.

McBride said finding and keeping candidates that meet this standard has long been an obstacle in D.C., and that from what he’s seen no progress has been made in turning things around.

“Given its desperate lack of staff in classrooms and its difficulties in recruiting appropriate staff, it is not surprising that mandates for highly qualified teachers continue to be ignored,” he said.

dlevitz@dcexaminer.com