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School psychologists, HCEA and RTI spotlight special-education staffing and workload in Howard County
Summary
School psychologists pressed the Howard County Board of Education on March 13 for pay parity, larger stipends and relief from heavy IEP workloads, while the Research Triangle Institute delivered a midpoint review identifying staffing‑model differences and rising per‑pupil special‑education spending that the district will use to guide short‑ and long‑term reforms.
Members of Howard County’s school-psychologist workforce delivered a string of public comments at the March 13 Board of Education meeting, pressing the system to adopt pay parity, larger stipends for nationally certified school psychologists and structural changes to reduce excessive workloads.
The appeals coincided with a midpoint update from Research Triangle Institute (RTI), which the board commissioned last fall to review special-education programs, staffing allocations and organizational structures. RTI told the board it is still collecting data but presented preliminary findings showing Howard County’s per-pupil special-education spending has increased and is higher than several comparable districts, and that Howard’s IEP-hours–based staffing model differs from other nearby counties.
Why it matters: school psychologists are a core part of eligibility determinations, crisis response and behavioral threat assessment teams; staff and union representatives warned that persistent understaffing and uncompensated out‑of‑hours work risks program quality and staff retention. RTI’s review is intended to guide short‑term fixes and a longer redesign that could affect hiring, caseload models and program placement.
School psychologists’ testimony
Dr. Kevin Hughes, vice president of the Howard County School Psychologists Association, told the board psychologists help “identify conditions like dyslexia, autism, and ADHD” and support crisis response and behavioral threat assessments. Hughes said nationally certified school psychologists receive no supplement in the district’s current proposed COLA plan and that psychologists receive only 14 reimbursed out‑of‑hours hours compared with 28 hours for other related-service providers. “I respectfully request that you recognize our efforts,” Hughes said.
Several other psychologists described the time required for evaluations and IEP work. Cheryl Levy said a single comprehensive autism evaluation can take 25 hours or longer, and that her school had consented for 48 psychological assessments this year. Emma Smith and other early-career psychologists described frequent interruptions from crises that force them to pause legally mandated assessment…
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