A whole bunch of Marin public college college students stand to lose psychological well being assist companies with the cancellation of $14.5 million in federal grants.
The Marin County Workplace of Training acquired discover Tuesday that two five-year psychological well being grants of $9.95 million and $4.5 million could be canceled, efficient in December, mentioned John Carroll, the Marin County superintendent of faculties.
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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 mentioned. “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 company cited a shift in funding priorities beneath the Trump administration as the explanation for the cuts, in keeping with Carroll. The company mentioned the brand new emphasis is on what it calls “merit, fairness and excellence,” he mentioned.
“MCOE is actively working to seek clarification on what that means and how the grants might be reinstituted,” he mentioned. “The office will appeal this decision and will pursue legal action as necessary.”
Lisa Miller, an assistant superintendent on the county workplace, mentioned staffing and college students at 5 Marin college districts — Miller Creek, Sausalito Marin Metropolis, Shoreline Unified, San Rafael and Novato — can be immediately affected.
The districts deliberate to make use of the grants to fund salaries for counseling employees and interns over the 5 years, Miller mentioned.
“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 mentioned.
A few of the employees and interns have already been employed, whereas others stay within the recruiting course of. They had been alleged to assist about 1,500 to 2,000 college students a 12 months on the 5 college districts.
Based on the grant purposes, they deliberate to work particularly on issues similar to power absenteeism or emotional points, significantly after traumatic incidents similar to acts of violence, Miller mentioned.
As a result of the cancellation discover got here on the finish of April, greater than a month after the March 15 deadline for California public colleges to problem layoff warning notices, the college districts might want to hold all employees in place for the 2025-26 college 12 months.
Nevertheless, after December, when the grant cash runs out, every college district might want to pay the brand new employees out of their very own budgets by means of the top of the college 12 months, Carroll mentioned.
“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 mentioned.
Scores of different California college districts are additionally affected, Carroll mentioned. On Friday, he attended a web based name with college districts throughout the Bay Space to debate choices to push again.
He mentioned the U.S. Division of Training advised college districts they could attraction the grant cancellations, however it gave no pointers on the process.
Consequently, the Bay Space districts, with steerage from authorized counsel, plan to develop a uniform template they may use for appeals, Carroll mentioned.
“We will do everything in our power to make sure the grants are reinstated in accordance with what our children were promised,” Carroll mentioned.
The canceled grants are a part of the federal College-Primarily based Psychological Well being Providers program. The bigger grant supported staffing for school-based psychological well being professionals. Marin County acquired virtually 100% of what it requested for within the aggressive grant course of, Carroll mentioned.
The second grant was supposed to increase and diversify the psychological well being workforce by coaching and putting as much as 100 supervised interns over 5 years.
“Hundreds of kids in Marin County are going to miss receiving really important services if this funding stream ends,” Carroll mentioned. “There should be plenty of public outrage about this.”
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