UKIAH UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT has been notified that its federal School-Based Mental Health grant — totaling $1,182,896 — will be cut by the U.S. Department of Education, which could mean the loss of up to 10 mental health workers, according to the district.
These employees, who range from social workers to school psychologists, help kids with behavioral disorders such as anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation and other conditions.
The mental health grant will officially end in December of this year, despite the grant originally being slated to fund the school district for another two and a half years.
According to a news release issued by UUSD, they noted that the Department of Education’s reason for cancellation was that “the grant conflicts with the priorities of the current administration.” The Department of Education did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the cuts.
The recently canceled mental health grant began after former President Joe Biden signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act into law in June 2022. The law was passed in the wake of mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York, and authorized the School-Based Mental Health grant program, which provided $500 million to schools nationwide for mental health services.
Critical support for disadvantaged students
UUSD spokesperson Dan Dougherty said the cancellation of the mental health grant will severely impact services available for students. He said that the district’s mental health services help thousands of students with emotional and mental support.
“In the 2023–24 school year, we served 4,965 out of 5,940 students with some level of social-emotional support from providers hired through this grant,” Dougherty said in an interview. “They help reduce behavioral referrals, discipline issues, and expulsions by offering proactive emotional support.”
Dougherty said mental health services are crucial for young people in Mendocino County due to the high number of students with difficult home lives.
“We have higher-than-average numbers of students in foster care, experiencing homelessness,” Dougherty explained. “A very large number of our students are trauma-impacted. That level of stress has to be addressed in order for them to fully open up to academic learning.”
For James Persky, a ceramics teacher at Ukiah High School, the grant cancellation will only further hurt students who need these services most.
“I think this is the most asinine budget cut I’ve heard,” he said in an email. “It’s just plain cruel to the students who rely on these services.”
Another Ukiah High School teacher, who requested anonymity due to fear of retaliation from the school district and President Donald Trump’s administration, said she has become increasingly worried about federal budget cuts.
“The loss of the mental health grant will be felt far and wide inside our county,” she said. “Our students really depend on and need mental health services in rural, isolated counties. It’s going to be difficult.”
The cancellation of the mental health grant program will impact schools nationwide, from elementary through high school.
“Our students really depend on and need mental health services in rural, isolated counties. It’s going to be difficult.” Ukiah High School teacher
According to Ukiah Unified School District, they will be appealing the Department of Education’s decision to discontinue the grant, which means they will be providing evidence and documentation presenting why the funding should continue. The district also said they will be researching other ways to provide mental health services.
‘Suddenly there’s no one there’
Lisa Rantala, president of the Ukiah Valley Unified Chapter 194 of the California School Employees Association union, said the grant cancellation will not only affect students but also place additional strain on already overburdened teachers.
“Now you’ve got students who’ve been relying on these services for years, and suddenly there’s no one there,” Rantala said in an interview. “Teachers are expected to notice the signs and intervene — but they’re already teaching 23, sometimes 25 kids at once. It’s just not realistic.”
Rantala said student mental health in Mendocino County has worsened over the past several years, particularly following catastrophes such as the COVID-19 pandemic and local wildfires in Northern California.
“We’ve had students die in fires. Then came floods, more fires and a pandemic. That trauma alone has played a huge role in their emotional well-being,” she said. “If you take away mental health support, you leave them to deal with that pain alone.”
The school district has 30 days to submit an appeal to the Department of Education.
This story originally appeared in The Mendocino Voice.