--- title: "Burbio School Tracker 7/7: Pressure Points" description: In this week's Tracker, we review costs driving Special Education, hundreds of districts seeking architects for upcoming projects, vendor market share, and district keyword trends. More below. image: https://about.burbio.com/hubfs/K-12%20Projects%20Awaiting%20Architect%20Selection.jpg --- [![burbio logo png-2](https://about.burbio.com/hubfs/burbio%20logo%20png-2.png)](https://about.burbio.com/) - [Features](https://about.burbio.com/school-calendar-insights) ### [Curriculum Tracker  ](https://about.burbio.com/curriculum-trackerv2) ### [Construction Tracker](https://about.burbio.com/construction-tracker) ### [Calendar Insights  ](https://about.burbio.com/school-calendar-insights) - [Burbio School Tracker](https://about.burbio.com/weekly-updates) - Company ### [In the News  ](https://about.burbio.com/press) ### [Research  ](https://about.burbio.com/research) ### [Contact Us](https://calendly.com/dennisroche/burbio-meeting-with-dennis-roche?month=2026-08) [NEWSLETTER SIGN-UP](https://about.burbio.com/#sign-up) [GET A DEMO](https://calendly.com/dennisroche/burbio-meeting-with-dennis-roche?month=2025-12) School Board Meetings # Burbio School Tracker 7/7: Pressure Points In this week's Tracker, we review costs driving Special Education, hundreds of districts seeking architects for upcoming projects, vendor market share, and district keyword trends. More below. [Dennis Roche](https://about.burbio.com/weekly-updates/author/dennis-roche) Jul 7, 2026 --- 1\. In our reviews of 2026-27 school budgets, Special Education is universally cited as an area with the fastest-growing expenses. This week, we review hundreds of school budgets and recent district board discussions and identify the main drivers behind the costs: - **Rising enrollment and complexity of need:** Special education populations are growing faster than overall enrollment in many districts, and the increasing intensity of student needs is driving demand for additional staff, 1:1 aides, and specialized classrooms. - **Staffing shortages and reliance on contracted services:** Shortages of special education teachers, paraeducators, and related-service providers can force districts to turn to contracted and outside agency staff to meet legal requirements. - **Out-of-district placements and tuition costs:** When districts cannot serve a student's needs in-house, they must pay tuition for placement in private or specialized outside facilities, which is a fast-rising expense in many budgets. - **Mandated therapeutic and related services:** Federal IEP requirements obligate districts to provide occupational, physical, and speech therapy, extended school year programming, and home instruction, often at significant, only partially funded cost. - **Specialized transportation:** Transporting students with disabilities, particularly those in out-of-district placements, remains a growing logistical and financial burden amid driver shortages and rising contract rates. - **Compensation, benefits, and legal obligations:** Efforts to recruit and retain qualified staff are pushing up salaries and benefits, while legal settlements and compensatory education requirements add further unpredictable costs. **2.** One goal of Burbio's K-12 construction clients is to identify projects before key decisions are made. One of the earliest opportunities is before a district selects an architect. The map below, based on Burbio's K-12 Construction Tracker, highlights more than 500 active projects discussed in May and June 2026 where no architecture firm has yet been named. ![K-12 Projects Awaiting Architect Selection](https://about.burbio.com/hs-fs/hubfs/K-12%20Projects%20Awaiting%20Architect%20Selection.jpg?width=1010&height=784&name=K-12%20Projects%20Awaiting%20Architect%20Selection.jpg) [Click here to schedule](https://calendly.com/dennisroche/burbio-meeting-with-dennis-roche?month=2026-07) a short demo to see how Burbio's foundational datasets, district contacts, and customized signals can power your K-12 business. **3**. Burbio's district checkbook register is used by clients for both district-level intelligence as well as C-suite and investor market analysis. The charts below compare the percentage of districts that have written a check to the indicated supplier in the twelve months ending February 28th. We begin showing suppliers that have higher market penetration in the South than in the Northeast:![7-7-26 Vendor Market Penetration by Region - South Higher vs. Northeast](https://about.burbio.com/hs-fs/hubfs/7-7-26%20Vendor%20Market%20Penetration%20by%20Region%20-%20South%20Higher%20vs.%20Northeast.png?width=661&height=486&name=7-7-26%20Vendor%20Market%20Penetration%20by%20Region%20-%20South%20Higher%20vs.%20Northeast.png) The chart below shows suppliers with a higher penetration in the Northeast. ![7-7-26 Vendor Market Penetration by Region - Northeast Higher - South vs. Northeast](https://about.burbio.com/hs-fs/hubfs/7-7-26%20Vendor%20Market%20Penetration%20by%20Region%20-%20Northeast%20Higher%20-%20South%20vs.%20Northeast.png?width=661&height=486&name=7-7-26%20Vendor%20Market%20Penetration%20by%20Region%20-%20Northeast%20Higher%20-%20South%20vs.%20Northeast.png) The Northeast covers all of New England, plus New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland. The South covers Virginia south to Florida, plus West Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas. **4**. [Burbio's](https://about.burbio.com/) foundational datasets include millions of pages of K-12 board meetings. This week, we continue our look at keyword trends and review year-over-year trends. The percentages cover keyword mentions at any point during the 12-month period. The analysis covers the same districts for each period to keep the measurement consistent. Notable changes: ![Board Document Keywords 7-7-26](https://about.burbio.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Board%20Document%20Keywords%207-7-26.png?width=1132&height=694&name=Board%20Document%20Keywords%207-7-26.png)   [School Board Meetings](https://about.burbio.com/weekly-updates/tag/school-board-meetings) [Budgets](https://about.burbio.com/weekly-updates/tag/budgets) [K-12](https://about.burbio.com/weekly-updates/tag/k-12) [School Budgets](https://about.burbio.com/weekly-updates/tag/school-budgets) [Special Education](https://about.burbio.com/weekly-updates/tag/special-education) [2026-27 School Budgets](https://about.burbio.com/weekly-updates/tag/2026-27-school-budgets) ## Similar posts School Enrollment ### [Burbio School Tracker 2/3: Evenly Split Cities](https://about.burbio.com/weekly-updates/burbio-school-tracker-2/03-evenly-split-cities) In this week's Tracker we look at enrollment changes over one-year and five-year periods for the largest 50 school districts classified as City... Dennis Roche Feb 3, 2026 School Grants ### [Burbio School Tracker 7/14: Catching Currents](https://about.burbio.com/weekly-updates/burbio-school-tracker-7/14-catching-currents) This week, we introduce our K-12 Curriculum Tracker, review state grants across facilities, CTE, special education and more, and look at 2026-27... Dennis Roche Jul 14, 2026 School Grants ### [Burbio School Tracker 2/4: Regional Differences](https://about.burbio.com/weekly-updates/burbio-school-tracker-2/3-material-impact) This week we look at differences in school board meeting topics across separate regions, examine use of DEI terminology by districts in light of... Dennis Roche Feb 4, 2025 ## [Sign up](https://about.burbio.com/#sign-up) for Burbio School Tracker emails!     [![Asset 1@3x](https://about.burbio.com/hubfs/Asset%201@3x.png)](https://about.burbio.com) ### Company - [Home](https://about.burbio.com) - [School Tracker](https://about.burbio.com/weekly-updates) - [Press](https://about.burbio.com/press) - [Research](https://about.burbio.com/research) - [Terms of Service](https://about.burbio.com/terms-of-service) © 2025 Burbio, Inc. 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