Disability advisory board asks HR to raise pay for dedicated aides as step toward part-time benefits

The Disability Issues Advisory Board (DIAB) voted June 9 to ask Prince George’s County Public Schools’ compensation and classification to consider increasing the hourly pay rate for dedicated aides as a stepping stone toward creating part‑time positions with benefits.

The motion, moved by Christopher Dwyer and seconded by Ms. Patrick, asked that compensation and classification “consider upping the hourly rate for dedicated aids, as a stepping stone to potentially creating a either a part time with benefits or a 3 quarter time with benefits position,” Dwyer said. The motion carried after a roll call: 10 yes, 1 abstention and several absences, and was announced as carried at the meeting.

The board’s education and human resources subcommittee had already recommended rethinking the dedicated‑aid role’s structure. Subcommittee members relayed options discussed in their review, including changing temporary dedicated‑aid assignments into permanent half‑time or three‑quarter‑time positions to make them benefits‑eligible. “We talked about changing the dedicated aid position to a permanent position, considering making it a half or 3 quarter time permanent position, and that would make it benefits eligible,” a subcommittee presenter said during the meeting.

Members pressed district staff on who controls pay and benefits. “The way that I would answer that is I would I think that needs to go to our chief of human resources,” said Miss Bowman, adding that the chief financial officer and the executive cabinet would also be involved if benefits are added. Bowman later clarified that the dedicated‑aid budget is managed within the special education maintenance‑of‑effort budget and that the funded source is not currently Medicaid: “It's not currently paid through Medicaid,” she said.

Board members described recruitment and retention problems, with temporary dedicated aides earning near‑minimum wage and frequently leaving for higher pay elsewhere. “Our dedicated aids receive the state minimum wage of $15 an hour, which is criminally low,” a member said during the discussion, arguing that low pay undermines continuity for students served by aides.

The board also discussed near‑term operational changes the district should make while job‑class changes are considered. The human resources subcommittee recommended deadlines for improving the district’s response times on accommodations requests: the district should bring its average response time down to 30 days within six months and its maximum response time down to 30 days within nine months, and resume quarterly and annual reporting on accommodations while principals are given autonomy to implement reasonable accommodations.

DIAB members and staff said next steps will include forwarding the board motion and the subcommittee’s recommendations to district HR and finance for review and potential action. The motion does not itself change compensation or create positions; it requests that compensation and classification evaluate a wage increase as an interim step toward a longer‑term staffing change.

District staff at the meeting said they would need to consult the chief financial officer and HR for details about the funding source and implementation timeline; board members urged DIAB to follow up at the district’s presentation and budget meetings scheduled later in June.