This paper focuses on possible solutions to the problem of special education personnel recruitment and retention. Options for increasing the supply of direct service personnel include: augment salaries and benefits for educational personnel; facilitate improved working conditions and status for personnel involved in direct service; train educational personnel to be recruiters for the profession; educate personnel other than traditional educators to be teachers and service providers for students with disabilities; provide training stipends in amounts sufficient to support full-time participation in special education personnel preparation programs; develop strategies for increasing the pool of special educators from underrepresented groups and professionals to work in especially underserved areas; improve the quality of special education personnel preparation programs; and enhance and expand cooperative business, government, and education recruitment and retention programs. Solutions for the problem of recruiting and retaining leadership personnel include: make salaries and benefits available to teacher educators and other special education leadership personnel competitive with those of other professions; provide stipends, other forms of financial support, and program options that will allow career educators to pursue doctoral study; emphasize quality aspects of special education leadership training programs; enhance and expand cooperative relationships between schools of education and public/private school systems; improve personnel preparation leadership recruitment strategies and contingencies; improve and expand strategies for retaining leadership professionals through the use of skill improvement, skill development, and other options. Obstacles, barriers, and inhibitors to obtaining the ideal include the need for commitment of appropriate resources, the lack of coordinated recruitment and retention plans, and the lack of shared responsibility for education. (16 references) (JDD)