The Marin County Office of Education in San Rafael, Calif., on Tuesday July 18, 2023. (Sherry LaVars/Marin Independent Journal)
Hundreds of Marin public school students stand to lose mental health support services with the cancellation of $14.5 million in federal grants.
The Marin County Office of Education received notice Tuesday that two five-year mental health grants of $9.95 million and $4.5 million would be canceled, effective in December, said John Carroll, the Marin County superintendent of schools.
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“The reckless and chaotic nature of this surprise decision shows clearly that the U.S. Department of Education either does not understand how school funding cycles work, or is intentionally acting to harm the efficient operation of our schools,” Carroll said. “Either way, this is very bad news. Worse than that, the federal government is trying to kill a program that supports learning and social emotional growth for kids who need it most — at a time when communities are asking for more help.”
The federal agency cited a shift in funding priorities under the Trump administration as the reason for the cuts, according to Carroll. The agency said the new emphasis is on what it calls “merit, fairness and excellence,” he said.
“MCOE is actively working to seek clarification on what that means and how the grants might be reinstituted,” he said. “The office will appeal this decision and will pursue legal action as necessary.”
Lisa Miller, an assistant superintendent at the county office, said staffing and students at five Marin school districts — Miller Creek, Sausalito Marin City, Shoreline Unified, San Rafael and Novato — will be directly affected.
The districts planned to use the grants to fund salaries for counseling staff and interns over the five years, Miller said.
“Staff impact includes 11.5 full-time licensed or credentialed providers, plus up to 100 mental health interns by the end of the fifth year of the grant,” Miller said.
Some of the staff and interns have already been hired, while others remain in the recruiting process. They were supposed to help about 1,500 to 2,000 students a year at the five school districts.
According to the grant applications, they planned to work specifically on problems such as chronic absenteeism or emotional issues, particularly after traumatic incidents such as acts of violence, Miller said.
Because the cancellation notice came at the end of April, more than a month after the March 15 deadline for California public schools to issue layoff warning notices, the school districts will need to keep all staff in place for the 2025-26 school year.
However, after December, when the grant money runs out, each school district will need to pay the new staff out of their own budgets through the end of the school year, Carroll said.
“The U.S. Department of Education is not only canceling a program it had committed to funding for five years, but is also sticking local districts with an unexpected bill to pay,” Carroll said.
Scores of other California school districts are also affected, Carroll said. On Friday, he attended an online call with school districts across the Bay Area to discuss options to push back.
He said the U.S. Department of Education told school districts they may appeal the grant cancellations, but it gave no guidelines on the procedure.
As a result, the Bay Area districts, with guidance from legal counsel, plan to develop a uniform template they might use for appeals, Carroll said.
“We will do everything in our power to make sure the grants are reinstated in accordance with what our children were promised,” Carroll said.
The canceled grants are part of the federal School-Based Mental Health Services program. The larger grant supported staffing for school-based mental health professionals. Marin County received almost 100% of what it asked for in the competitive grant process, Carroll said.
The second grant was intended to expand and diversify the mental health workforce by training and placing up to 100 supervised interns over five years.
“Hundreds of kids in Marin County are going to miss receiving really important services if this funding stream ends,” Carroll said. “There should be plenty of public outrage about this.”
Originally published at Keri Brenner