Sponsors (107)
The bill aims to expand and target school-based mental health services for high-need students through grants, staffing benchmarks, and data transparency, but its impact will be limited or uneven by match requirements, competitive/eligibility rules, administrative and fiscal burdens, and some restrictions on local flexibility.
Students in high-need elementary and secondary schools are likely to get increased access to school-based mental health providers and services through targeted eligibility criteria and funded grant programs.
High-need LEAs can directly hire or retain more mental health providers via grant-funded salary stipends, loan repayment, relocation assistance, and professional development incentives.
The bill sets concrete staffing benchmarks (student-to-counselor/psychologist/social worker targets) and defines qualifying LEAs, giving districts clear guidance to prioritize hiring and resource allocation.
Local agencies must provide a minimum 25% non‑Federal match for grants, which could strain the budgets of high-need LEAs and limit participation by the districts that need help most.
Eligibility thresholds, competitive grant processes, and staffing-ratio cutoffs could leave some needy districts — including those just above the top-15% threshold or narrowly missing shortfalls — without funding, producing uneven access across communities.
New reporting, documentation, and compliance requirements (including ESEA section 4001 obligations) increase administrative burden and may require staff time and costs that divert resources from direct student services.
Based on analysis of 8 sections of legislative text.
Creates a competitive federal grant program (authorized for FY2026–FY2030) to increase the number and diversity of school‑based mental health providers in high‑need local educational agencies (LEAs). Grants fund recruitment, hiring, retention, evidence‑based services, and incentives; require a minimum 25% non‑Federal match; and include reporting and data‑privacy requirements. Grants are awarded competitively, prioritized for high‑quality applications from high‑need LEAs and distributed across urban, suburban, and rural areas; small reservations are set aside for program administration, Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) schools, and U.S. outlying areas. Recipients must follow applicable federal education law requirements when using funds and publicly report annual outcomes about providers and student access.
Introduced June 30, 2025 by Rosa L. Delauro · Last progress June 30, 2025