Later, the head of the EA, Richard Pengelly, told MLAs that the authority had already started work on providing school places for children with SEN in September 2026.
Mr Pengelly said that the EA started the process of finding school places for children with SEN early in the school year, and had met hundreds of mainstream schools and special schools.
He said that for 2025, “we created in total just 1300 additional places across 120 schools”.
But he admitted that some children had not been able to start school in September as their classrooms had not been completed.
He said the teaching unions were working with the EA to tackle the problems.
“Our shared ambition here is to better meet the needs of this vulnerable group of children,” Mr Pengelly said.
“At times we have a frustration that the core problem here is seen only as some sort of operational failure by EA.
“I don’t believe that’s the case but equally I’m not going to sit here and say we’re getting it right every time and we’re perfect.”
Though Mr Pengelly warned that the EA was “£300m short of what I need to run the service as it sits today”.
“That’s before I even contemplate any expansion or further investment,” he added.
He also said that more than 62,000 school-age children had been identified as having a special educational need.
