FocusedEDU vs Soliant for K-12 Schools (2026)

FocusedEDU vs Soliant is a choice between a local pipeline and a national one. Soliant staffs school clinicians and special educators from a nationwide network, including travel and teletherapy. FocusedEDU recruits SLPs, OTs, PTs, school psychologists, BCBAs, and special education teachers in your region for one client per region, license-verified before you meet them, with $0 temp-to-perm.

This comparison is written for special education directors, HR leaders, and charter operators filling related-services and special education caseloads in 2026. Facts about Soliant come from Soliant's own website, reviewed in October 2026 and linked so you can check them. Facts about FocusedEDU come from our published service pages, case studies, and signed client letters.

FocusedEDU vs Soliant: the short answer

Soliant is a national healthcare and education staffing firm that fills school roles from a nationwide network, with travel and remote options. FocusedEDU is a K-12 staffing partner that builds a local, exclusive pipeline of clinicians and special educators for one client per region. Schools that want clinicians who live nearby, stay, and convert at no cost get more from FocusedEDU.

When an SLP, OT, or school psychologist position sits open, it is not a scheduling inconvenience; it is a compliance exposure with a specific student's IEP behind it. The question is not only who can fill the caseload this month, but who will still be on it in May and whether you can keep them.

How Soliant describes its school staffing

Soliant says it has connected healthcare and education professionals with opportunities since 1992. Its school services page describes licensed, credentialed professionals across education disciplines, sourced from a nationwide network, with on-site, travel, and teletherapy delivery, dedicated account managers, and travel, contract, and temp-to-perm options for hard-to-fill roles.

Soliant's school roles include occupational, physical, and speech-language therapists, school psychologists and counselors, BCBAs and RBTs, special education and general education teachers, paraprofessionals, teachers of the visually impaired, deaf and hard-of-hearing specialists, interpreters, audiologists, and school nurses. Its site offers teletherapy professionals for roles like SLPs, psychologists, OTs, and special educators, and bills travel professionals at "a simple, all-inclusive hourly rate," with Soliant handling housing, travel, licensing support, and logistics (Soliant; Soliant school services). Its site does not publish a conversion fee or say whether a pipeline is reserved for one district.

How FocusedEDU staffs related services and special education

FocusedEDU recruits licensed SLPs, OTs, PTs, school psychologists, BCBAs, and RBTs, plus certified special education teachers and paraprofessionals, into a pipeline built for one client per region. Every clinician's state license is verified for the specific discipline before you see a name, and every placement is temp-to-perm at no cost.

• Exclusive pipeline: if you sign with us for your area, the clinicians we recruit there are presented to you and no one else, and we will not supply a competing school.
• Verified, not self-reported: state license and certification checked for the discipline and role, full criminal background check, state clearances (Pennsylvania's Acts 34, 151, and 114, or the Delaware, New Jersey, and Maryland equivalents), TB test, vaccination documentation, and references from prior schools and clinical supervisors.
• School-based practice: the screen probes multi-building caseload management, evaluation reports tested in eligibility meetings, service-minute documentation, Medicaid billing documentation, and schedule reliability — because a missed session creates compensatory-service liability.
• Speed: automated credentialing tracks every license, clearance, and expiration; our typical placement timeline runs 2-4 weeks against an industry norm closer to 6-8.
• Results: at Odyssey Public Charter School, one partner covering SLPs, OTs, PTs, psychologists, reading specialists, and 13+ role types in all, with 120+ placements since 2021; at IDEA Public Charter School, 100% of certified special education teacher roles filled within two weeks, with 100% retention.

Tracy H. Foedisch, Hiring & Support Manager at Hope Community Charter School in Camden, New Jersey, wrote of the professionals FocusedEDU placed: "They are always professional, friendly, and have our students' best interests at the forefront of their work." See every letter on our references page and the full model on related services staffing.

Where FocusedEDU and Soliant differ

The two differ on where clinicians come from, whether your pipeline is shared, how credentials are verified and how fast, and what it costs to keep someone. FocusedEDU builds a local pipeline reserved for one client per region, verifies every license for the discipline in a 2-4 week placement timeline, and converts at $0.

A local pipeline instead of a national one

A travel contract brings a clinician in from elsewhere for a defined term, with the vendor arranging housing and travel. FocusedEDU recruits clinicians who live and work in your region, so the SLP on your caseload in September can still be on it in June — and can join your staff permanently at no cost. For on-site services, IEP meetings, and the relationships a caseload depends on, local wins.

Scarce clinicians should not be auctioned

Licensed school clinicians are the hardest people in K-12 to hire. In a model where one candidate is presented to every district in the county, the placement goes to whoever bids highest. FocusedEDU works with one client per region, so the clinicians recruited in your area are yours.

Credentialing you can audit

Federal law requires related-services personnel to meet the state's certification or licensing requirements for their discipline, with no emergency or provisional waiver (34 CFR 300.156). FocusedEDU verifies each license before shortlist and its automated system flags expirations before they lapse, so the compliance file is complete before a special education director ever sees a resume.

Evaluate first, hire without a fee

Soliant's site lists temp-to-perm among its options but does not publish a conversion fee. FocusedEDU's is published: $0. Bring an SLP or school psychologist onto a caseload, watch how they run evaluations and work with your teams, and if you want them permanently, there is no conversion fee.

One adjacent case is worth naming. If you are a hospital or clinic hiring travel nurses, Soliant's healthcare staffing connects healthcare professionals with hospitals, clinics, and facilities nationwide. For K-12 schools staffing related services and special education, FocusedEDU is built for exactly that work.

Which schools are the best fit for FocusedEDU?

FocusedEDU fits districts, charter networks, special education schools, and IUs/ESAs that need SLPs, OTs, PTs, school psychologists, BCBAs, and special education teachers on site, want a pipeline nobody else in their region can draw on, and want to keep good clinicians without a conversion fee. Core markets are Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Washington, DC, and New York.

Start with related services staffing or special education staffing, and see how the wider field compares in the best K-12 staffing agencies for schools in 2026 and FocusedEDU vs Kelly Education.

FocusedEDU vs Soliant: which should your school choose?

Choose the partner that recruits clinicians in your region, keeps them yours, verifies every license before you meet anyone, and lets you hire the ones you want at no cost. That is FocusedEDU. Book a free 30-minute discovery call or send a staffing request and we will map your caseloads, buildings, and licensure needs.