How many psychologists are in the FY 2021 budget? How many and which schools do they service? What is the ratio of psychologists to students currently in MCPS? Also include the number of special education psychologists and what programs they service.

Question#: 5

ANSWER:

There are 132.034 Full-time Equivalent (FTE) psychologist positions in the Superintendent’s Recommended FY 2021 Operating Budget to support MCPS’ 208 schools. The psychologists assigned to the comprehensive schools are assigned based on the needs in the buildings each week. 

A list of the supports is below:

Programs

FY  2021 FTE Positions

Division of Psychological Services Comprehensive Schools

 99.000

Office of Special Education

 21.500

DPS Bilingual Assessment Team

   6.500

Head Start/Pre-K

   4.034

Alternative Programs

   1.000

Total

132.034

The number of students enrolled in MCPS for school year 2019-2020 is 166,474 and there are currently 93.0 FTE psychologist positions in the Department of Psychological Services (DPS) to support schools. In addition, there are 31.534 FTE psychologist positions assigned to support specialized programs (special education, alternative programs, Head Start, and the Bilingual Assessment Team).  The current ratio of DPS psychologists to students is 1:1790. The current ratio of all MCPS psychologists to students is 1:1337.

There are 21.0 FTE psychologist positions for FY 2020 and 21.5 FTE psychologist positions in the Superintendent’s Recommended FY 2021 Operating Budget to support special education programs. The breakdown of programs supported follows: