Talia Richman5/27/2026 5:30 a.m. EDT
Psychologists and social workers are among those in jeopardy as Montgomery County grapples with its budget
After a February shooting at Wootton High School, nearly 100 mental health professionals flooded the campus to help traumatized students rebuild their sense of safety.
Among them was Liliana Ferrufino. She’s usually stationed 3 miles away, at Winston Churchill High, but she knows it’s a school psychologist’s job to show up where kids are in crisis.
Ferrufino’s position is now a potential casualty of a $36 million funding gap that is expected to cost hundreds of Montgomery County Public Schools staffers their jobs. Many of the proposed cuts would impact mental health services.
Superintendent Thomas Taylor has proposed axing 20 school psychologist positions, which would save about $2 million. The proposal to eliminate these jobs came as a shock because they weren’t all listed in Taylor’s first roster of potential cuts.
The district’s latest budget proposal recommends cutting 18 of the 135 current school psychologist positions, district spokesperson Liliana López said in a statement. Two resource psychologists are also on the list.
“These adjustments were made after careful evaluation to protect direct classroom instruction, while ensuring the district remains mindful of its obligations to meet all state law requirements,” López said.
Losing psychologists, they say, will strain resources in the district, placing children at risk at a time when many of them are grappling with mental health issues. Overburdening psychologists can also leave the district vulnerable to lawsuits, they added.
Many are already serving multiple campuses.
The National Association of School Psychologists recommends a ratio of one psychologist for every 500 students. But in MCPS, they are often responsible for double or triple, even quadruple, that number.
Parents worry about what these cuts could mean for their children, particularly those with complex needs.
Oz Papados, whose son has autism, said schools without adequate psychological support can end up shifting the burden onto parents to be emergency responders, case managers and behavioral specialists.
“School psychologists are not optional extras,” she wrote in a letter to the school board. “They are often the people who help schools understand the difference between ‘bad behavior’ and disability-related distress.”
Safe adults
One of the essential roles of a school psychologist is evaluating students with disabilities to determine what resources they need. They are required to adhere to strict timelines for such assessments, and failure to do so can lead to legal complaints from parents.
Talia Richman is the Montgomery County education reporter at The Banner. She previously covered schools for The Dallas Morning News. The Education Writers Association has recognized Talia as among the best education beat reporters in the nation. Before her time in Texas, she covered schools and City Hall for The Baltimore Sun.
https://www.thebanner.com/education/k-12-schools/mcps-psychologists-social-workers-budget-cuts-YQFH7XK5N5ESXEVQA2BX64RZFI/