Educators, unions and parents warn BCPS cuts to psychologists and speech‑language services risk noncompliance and student harm

At the May 20 Baltimore County Public Schools board meeting, several employees, union representatives and parents urged the board to halt or reverse proposed cuts to school psychologists and to address unsustainable speech‑language pathologist (SLP) caseloads, saying the reductions would jeopardize compliance with special‑education timelines and limit services for students.

Dr. Kyle Potter, a licensed psychologist and parent of BCPS students, told the board cuts were decided without input from psychologists or administrators and said the changes would put the system out of compliance with federal and state 60‑day evaluation timelines. He said affected psychologists learned about job changes in a 15‑minute staff meeting and that some staff faced projected salary cuts of 10–20%. “The total saved by cutting…