Sponsors (129)
The bill directs targeted federal grants, workforce incentives, and clearer rules to expand school-based mental health supports—especially in high-need districts—while imposing local matching requirements, competitive eligibility cutoffs, administrative and consent requirements that may delay implementation or leave some districts and students without services.
Students in high-need districts will gain more access to school-based mental health staff through funded hiring, recruitment incentives, and prioritized grants.
The law prioritizes funding and tailored programs for high-need local education agencies (at least 50% of funds targeted to high-quality, high-need applicants), concentrating resources where shortages are greatest.
Recruitment, retention, and professional-development incentives (loan repayment, stipends, relocation support) aim to expand and stabilize the school mental-health workforce.
Some districts—particularly small, rural, or those just above eligibility cutoffs—may be excluded from aid due to strict staffing-ratio thresholds, percentage cutoffs, and the competitive grant model, leaving students without needed services.
Local education agencies must provide a 25% non‑Federal match and face administrative set‑asides (and reservations), which can strain LEA budgets and reduce funds available for other programs.
New reporting, privacy, eligibility verification tied to ESEA/Interior definitions, and parental-consent requirements increase administrative burden for districts and providers and can delay grant awards or program delivery.
Based on analysis of 8 sections of legislative text.
Creates a competitive grant program (FY2026–FY2030) to fund recruitment, hiring, and retention of school-based mental health providers in high-need LEAs, with a 25% non‑Federal match and reporting requirements.
Official title: To support States and high-need local educational agencies in increasing the number of mental health services providers in schools.
Introduced June 30, 2025 by Rosa L. Delauro · Last progress June 30, 2025
Creates a competitive grant program to help high-need school districts recruit, hire, retain, and diversify school-based mental health services providers for K–12 students. The Department of Education would award grants for FY2026–FY2030, with set reservations for program administration, Bureau of Indian Education schools, and outlying areas, and requires grantees to provide a 25% non‑Federal match and regular public reporting. Adds parental-consent and related protections already in ESEA Title IV to recipients of these grants and ties program rules to existing federal privacy and special-education law compliance.