Oz Papados fought for years for her autistic son to attend school in a general education classroom. After a tumultuous decade in and out of schools — including a state complaint — the Bethesda resident’s now 14-year-old son is enrolled at Rock Terrace School, a Rockville public school for students with autism.

But that could change for other disabled students under Montgomery County Public Schools’ recently finalized fiscal year 2027 budget, which eliminates 415 staff positions. This decision makes up for a budget that falls $36 million short of what MCPS leaders requested.

Board of Education members voted 7-1 to approve a $3.72 billion operating budget for schools, including the hundreds of job cuts that include social workers, family engagement specialists and student personnel workers.

The 415 impacted positions include 159 vacant jobs, according to MCPS.

The largest reductions were in special education (a reduction of $13.7 million) and student personnel services ($9 million). The board initially targeted 18 school psychologist positions for reduction, but has since restored them.

“It’s a bigger systemic issue that goes far beyond the school system,” said Stacy Ganz Kahn, the owner and founder of Educational Resources Group of Greater Washington. “The budget isn’t being fully funded. That is the problem.”

Papados, a member of Adas Israel Congregation, said her son, Joseph, has gone through the MCPS system “from pretty much the very beginning.” He has had a one-on-one aide throughout his school career.

“What is going to happen once social workers, counselors are being cut … we’re not even going to have the adult in the room that will be able to label and identify red flags, orange flags,” Papados said. “Everything is going to be left to the teachers. Teachers are already burned out.”

She added that removing support staff will take away points of contact for parents who wish to advocate for their child and will harm overworked teachers in need of assistance.

“There’s going to be a collapse of a system,” said Papados, who has had to advocate for Joseph after he was unlawfully restrained in a classroom at Burning Tree Elementary School and after he suffered a concussion while unattended during the school day in middle school.

“If the support had been in place, none of this would have happened,” Papados said of those two incidents.

She is “very sure” that every MCPS school will be affected by staff reductions, including Rock Terrace.

“At this point, [Joseph’s] school continues to receive students like Joseph as they arrive,” Papados said. “Being a special education school, everybody has an aide. You cannot bring a child without an aide.”

Papados has heard some parents questioning the investment in special education, namely why the county would allocate so many resources to one neurodivergent child, at the expense of the other 29 students in a classroom. She sees it differently.

“If you [apply] Jewish values, each person is a world, so we’re going to save the one because we’re saving the world, but not everybody’s looking at special education, for example, from a Jewish lens,” Papados said.

Ganz Kahn works with clients across Montgomery County and the greater Washington region in educational advocacy.

“It’s not just special ed that’s going to get cut, and remember too, when special ed gets cut, everything is going to be impacted because that means we’re going to have less resources in the school, more relying on teachers, [and] they already do too much,” she said. “There’s a lot of ramifications.”

Social workers, mental health services and resource psychologists are potentially among MCPS’ fiscal year 2027 reductions. The budget will fund pupil personnel workers, family engagement specialists and other support staff at a reduced capacity, according to a June announcement by MCPS.

While she’s glad that her two older children are out of the school system, Papados can’t help but fear for fellow Jewish families whose children are still in MCPS.

“I can only imagine the angst of any Jewish parents sending their kids to school in the current climate of antisemitism, where their children … are not even going to have access to [a social worker or trusted professional],” Papados said. “In the current climate of antisemitism, Jewish students, LGBTQ+ students, any niche group that is potentially targeted will be the first one to hurt, and especially at this very vulnerable age, middle and high school[ers] are going to truly be hurt by the cut; Jewish students absolutely.”

Stacey Rosenberg, the parent of a rising sophomore at Whitman High School, said she felt frustrated and sad when she heard this news.

“It seems to me there’s a lot going on in MCPS in terms of antisemitic harassment, and that can take a toll psychologically on students,” said Rosenberg, who has helped her daughter transfer schools twice due to antisemitism from peers. “It has in my child’s case.”

Talking to a guidance counselor was “helpful in the moment” for her daughter, Rosenberg said, although a specific plan wasn’t put into place and Rosenberg’s daughter was later harassed by the same peer again.

“Their caseload is so high, I think even with the budget they have, [school counselors] don’t have the time to really dig into each case and help, so to cut it even further is kind of ridiculous,” Rosenberg said.

When she’s visited or called the counselors’ office on behalf of her daughter, Rosenberg said she’s often waited to speak with them. “It can take a while,” she said. “There are always people in their office.”

MCPS is already stretched thin in terms of school psychologists. The National Association of School Psychologists recommends a ratio of one psychologist for every 500 students. Montgomery County has one school psychologist for every 1,100 students.

Rosenberg stressed the importance of mental health support for high school students, especially now.

“[For] teens in this day and age, there’s a lot going on … They’re being bullied on social media, they’re being bullied in school, and I think that there’s so much going on in school other than learning that [professional support is] needed for kids’ psychological well-being and mental health,” Rosenberg said.

MCPS did not return a request for comment as of July 30.

zbell@midatlanticmedia.com