Sponsors (68)
Establishes a federal HHS-ED grant program to fund trauma-informed, culturally appropriate school-based mental health services for children and adolescents.
The bill funds and formalizes sustained, culturally appropriate school-based mental health services and local partnerships for children—improving supports and accountability—but requires new federal spending and includes eligibility, grant-size, and administrative constraints that may limit reach and raise costs.
Students and children receive expanded, developmentally and culturally appropriate school-based mental health services for trauma, grief, suicide risk, and violence.
Families and schools gain access to coordinated community partnerships (health providers, schools, child welfare, law enforcement) to deliver local supports for child mental health and safety.
Schools and local education agencies receive multi-year (5-year) renewable grants with capped awards to help sustain program implementation over time.
Smaller districts and community providers may struggle to meet partnership and eligibility requirements (must include SEAs and local agencies), limiting access to funds for rural or grassroots programs.
Taxpayers face increased federal spending—$300 million authorized per year for FY2027 and FY2028—which could affect budgets or require offsets.
The $2 million grant cap may be insufficient for very large school systems, forcing districts to rely on additional local funding to scale services to all students.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Official title: To amend the Public Health Service Act to revise and extend projects relating to children and to provide access to school-based comprehensive mental health programs.
Introduced September 23, 2025 by Andrea Salinas · Last progress September 23, 2025
Creates a federal grant program run by HHS, in consultation with the Department of Education, to fund comprehensive school-based mental health services for children and adolescents. Grants can be used for trauma-informed prevention, screening, treatment, family engagement, staff training, technical assistance, and community partnerships, and explicitly includes Bureau of Indian Education schools. Changes existing statutory language to refocus the Children and Violence program toward school-based mental health services and outlines permissible uses and partnerships to address trauma, grief, suicide risk, and violence for youth.