Howard County Public Schools (HCPSS) is making big changes in special education that will address some longstanding issues that families and educators have been sounding the alarm on for years.

HCPSS announced dozens of new and repurposed positions as part of a redesign effort of the school district's special education program.

Parents with children who have Individualized Education Programs, or IEPs, say the announcement is a step in the right direction.

Breaking down the plan

For years, many have said HCPSS's special education program is overwhelmed, and staff have been stretched too thin.

In a step to address the issue, 36 new and repurposed positions have been announced that will aim to "allow special educators to focus more on instruction and student support, rather than emergencies and compliance," according to the announcement.

The positions are coordinators, instructional team leaders, elementary quick response staff, itinerant assessment team members, behavior analysts, behavior technicians, program assistants, autism specialists, and special education classroom staff.

The goal is to have all these positions established and filled by the start of the 2025-2026 school year.

Parents react to the plan

Lizz Hammon and Cat Carter say special education in HCPSS has been hit or miss. Hammon's younger child has had an IEP for the last six years.

"She has certainly not gotten everything that she's needed, at different points in time," Hammon said. "We got extremely lucky this past school year where she was just in the right place, at the right time, with the right people."

Four of Carter's five kids have had IEPs, though two of them have been able to get off these plans.

"The staff really care, but I think the bandwidth wasn't there. The boots on the ground weren't there," Carter said.

Hammon, who is involved in a number of HCPSS initiatives and groups, said these changes show the school district is listening to the concerns.

"It looked like there's an appetite for shaking things up and doing some changes," Hammon said. "This is not the panacea that's gonna fix everything, but it is definitely like breathing fresh air into a situation."

Carter, who has recently been elected as the president of the PTA Council of Howard County, or PTACHC, is also a fan of the plan.

But, she'd like to see more money invested, especially with hiring.

"As a small business owner, I have to recruit the best. The way I recruit the best is through paying them," Carter said.

HCPSS is currently in the middle of an audit of its special education program. The results of that audit are set to be revealed this month.