Sponsors (17)
The bill expands and clarifies funding and accreditation pathways to increase the supply of school-based mental health providers and lower costs for graduate trainees, but does so using narrow accreditation rules and match-based funding that may exclude nontraditional programs, advantage well-resourced institutions, and raise federal administrative and budgetary costs.
K–12 students and school staff gain greater access to school-based mental health providers because the bill funds and incentivizes training and placement of more counselors, psychologists, and social workers in schools.
Graduate students in school-based mental health programs receive grants/scholarships covering up to 50% of cost of attendance when institutions match, lowering their tuition burden and encouraging entry into the school mental-health workforce.
Prospective graduate students and institutions get clearer definitions and accreditation requirements tied to state licensure pathways, making it easier to determine program eligibility and support workforce pipeline development for school-based mental health providers.
Students and smaller or nontraditional graduate programs risk being excluded because narrow accreditation and licensure-based eligibility criteria may bar institutions that don't meet the specified accrediting bodies.
Students at under-resourced programs may get fewer benefits because the match-based grant design and institutional prioritization can advantage wealthier, better-funded schools and allow institutions to favor selected applicants.
Taxpayers may face increased federal spending to support the program and required institutional matches, raising budgetary costs depending on the program's scale and uptake.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Establishes a DOE program that matches eligible graduate institutions' contributions (up to 50%) toward students' cost of attendance in school-based mental health graduate programs.
Introduced May 21, 2025 by Brian K. Fitzpatrick · Last progress May 21, 2025
Creates a Department of Education program that helps pay graduate students' cost of attendance for training in school-based mental health fields by matching eligible graduate institutions' contributions up to 50 percent. Participating institutions enter agreements with the Secretary specifying the form and limits of their contributions, student caps, and prioritization rules; the Department will publish a list of participating schools and do outreach to certain former Pell Grant recipients and students from specified institutions. The law defines which graduate programs and institutions qualify (school counseling, school social work, school psychology, and related fields preparing students for state licensure or certification), adopts existing Higher Education Act and Elementary and Secondary Education Act definitions where relevant, and sets rules for who counts as a participating student.