KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Funding that once helped schools provide mental health services to students is being cut, and families who relied on that support are now left wondering what comes next.
The Trump administration says it will stop paying out $1 billion in federal grants that school districts across the country have been using to hire mental health professionals, including counselors and social workers.
"It means that the problems that we have get worse, and we really need to be making campground on those problems. We have some really deep problems," said parent Jacob Schwartz.
Schwartz has seen the benefits of these grants through his children, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"My kids during the pandemic went to visit the school counselor over a range of periods, and it was very helpful for them to understand how to process what was going on around them," he said. "And then also when they were back in school amongst their classmates, how to deal with students that have a lot feelings."
The grant was part of the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, a bill passed following the tragic mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
The bill provided grants to 260 school districts across the country to address rising concerns about student mental health.
“We have school shootings. We have had students taking their lives. We have students falling behind academically and causing problems for the whole school system, and we really need those things to get better because it impacts everyone," Schwartz said.
The Trump administration claims these funds reflect the priorities of the previous administration.
“I've been worried about this ... since Trump started cutting a lot of social services," Schwartz said. "I was at a school board meeting, and we were talking about what happens if this happens."
Many schools across Kansas and Missouri have benefited from these grants.
Schwartz, who sits on the board for the Crossroads Charter School, said it has helped the school hire new staff to meet their mental health needs.
“What happens to my friends' kids who are visiting these staff members on a weekly basis or even on a daily basis?" Schwartz said. "Do they get dumped back in classrooms without that help? What does that do to our classroom? What does that do to the learning atmosphere?"
Districts have been told the grant money, which was supposed to last until December 2027, will stop this December, two years early.
“Those needs don't go away just because we don't have the funding," Schwartz said. "We're all getting our funding through our community, through our government; we depend on it.”
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KSHB 41 reporter Marlon Martinez covers Platte and Clay counties in Missouri. Share your story idea with Marlon.
