This spring, school districts — including West Contra Costa Unified and Marin County Office of Education — were told that they would not be receiving the federal grants they had already been awarded.
WCCUSD and Marin were supposed to receive $4 million and $14 million, respectively. Instead, they each got about half a million dollars.
The change was part of a $1 billion dollar cut in federal funding that would place more mental healthcare providers in schools.
Now, the Department of Education says it’s re-launching the grants for a total of $270 million.
But that doesn’t mean WCCUSD or Marin will get their money back. If they choose to, they can reapply for funding — but they’ll likely have to make changes to their applications.
Previously, schools could apply for funding to hire social workers and school counselors. But now, the grant emphasizes the hiring of school psychologists.
California schools have many fewer school psychologists than experts say are necessary.
The Department of Education also axed the grants’ diversity goals and made universities ineligible to apply.
