Funding Allowed Schools To Hire Mental Health Professionals, Including Counselors And Social Workers
The Grant Programs Received Major Funding In 2022 Legislation Passed After Deadly Mass Shootings in Buffalo, NY and Uvalde, TX
New York State Faces Loss Of Almost $50 Million In Funding
***A Full Recording Of The Press Conference is Available HERE***
Today, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand held a virtual press conference calling on the Trump administration to restore federal funding for two grant programs that support mental health services in schools. The grant programs received $1 billion in funding as part of the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), legislation passed in the wake of deadly mass shootings at the Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo and at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
In addition to gun safety measures, BSCA included major funding for mental health programs, including the Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration Grant Program and the School-Based Mental Health Services Grant Program. These two grants aim to address concerns of a growing student mental health crisis, and they were slated to provide $1 billion in funding over five years to help schools and school districts hire and expand the workforce of school-based mental health professionals.
In late April, the Trump administration announced that it was cutting off the funding for these two programs. This decision impacts almost $50 million in funding for schools and school districts in New York State.
“Congress dedicated $1 billion in funding for school-based mental heath programs with bipartisan support as part of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act in 2022,” said Senator Gillibrand. “Now, President Trump is unilaterally stopping these grants and threatening nearly $50 million that New York schools are owed and plan to use to hire counselors, social workers, and other critical staff. This decision will hurt our students, and I am calling on the Trump administration to immediately reverse it. I encourage my colleagues to do the same.”
Specifically, the Trump administration’s decision will endanger:
- $8 million in Central New York
- $7.1 million in the Finger Lakes
- $12.1 million in the Southern Tier
- $9.6 million in Western New York
- $3.1 million on Long Island
- $4.6 million in NYC
- $4.7 million in the Hudson Valley
- $600,000 in the Mohawk Valley
The full text of Senator Gillibrand’s letter to the Secretary of Education is available here or below:
Dear Secretary McMahon,
I write to you with grave concern over the administration’s reports of terminations of youth mental health grant funding to school districts in New York. The Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration Grant (MHSP) and School-Based Mental Health Services Grant (SBMH) programs have benefitted not only New York but countless states across the country in urban and rural settings alike. I wrote to you about these terminations on May 9, 2025, and received an unsatisfactory response from your office on May 30, 2025. Both MHSP and SBMH programs play a vital role in addressing the shortage of school-based mental health professionals. Furthermore, they do not undermine standards for fairness, merit, and excellence in education as asserted in your response sent on May 30, 2025.
Your response to my earlier letter indicated that both the MHSP and SBMH programs would end at the end of the grants’ current budget periods. This outcome would harm both the students and mental health professionals who benefit from these programs. The demand for behavioral health, mental health, and substance abuse disorder services is projected to increase in the coming years. By 2037, it is estimated that there will be a shortage of 113,830 psychologists, 50,440 psychiatrists, and 39,710 school counselors. The MHSP and SBMH programs directly address this shortage, and discontinuing these programs will negatively impact current and future students.
These funding streams were intended to create a workforce development pipeline for school counselors, psychologists, and social workers. Thousands of students have benefited from the mental health care they received because of these programs. There are also hundreds of future mental health professionals in New York alone who benefit from these programs. However, with current grants set to expire soon, successful programs, like those in Lyons Central School District and the Seneca Falls Central School District, that have built mental health professional pipelines for students in high-need school districts could see their momentum stopped in its tracks. Hundreds of future mental health professionals, who are sorely needed across New York, stand to lose the support of innovative programs that serve my constituents and their families.
I am concerned that the Department is disrupting grant funding that truly represents how the government can address the direct needs of our taxpayers and their families. These programs work, and New York students deserve their continued benefits.
I request your response to the following questions by no later than June 4, 2025:
1. Will the Department commit to answering the nine questions from my original letter sent May 9, 2025, most of which were unaddressed in your response dated on May 30, 2025?
2. How did each MHSP and SBMH grant that received a non-continuation notice violate Federal civil rights law?
3. What are the Department’s plans to recompete its mental health program funds in the next grant cycle, including the grant application and selection criteria for the upcoming cycle?
4. How will the Department address service disruptions for New York students after the expiration of this funding?
5. Explain how the Department plans to address mental health workforce shortages stemming from the disruption of this funding.
6. Have New York mental health and education stakeholders been engaged? Please provide a detailed explanation of your engagement processes with stakeholders.
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