Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Mental Health Funding topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Board approves mental-health allocation plan; funds primarily used for social workers
Summary
The board approved the 2025–26 mental-health assistance allocation plan, which staff said is being spent mainly on social workers in school buildings and must be spent within the year or risk reallocation.
At its July 28 special session, the board voted 4–0 to accept the district’s mental-health assistance allocation plan for the 2025–26 school year.
The staff presenter, Rod Williams, said most of the allocation is being used to fund social workers placed full time in both school buildings and that the district had reduced its rollover from prior years by spending more of the allocation. “We need to spend every penny of it for that particular year,” Williams said, warning that unspent funds can be taken away in future allocations.
Why it matters: state mental-health allocations support school-based behavioral and counseling services; how the district spends that money affects the staffing available to students.
Details: Williams told the board the district now has social workers in both buildings full time and that charter schools’ allocations are included in the plan. He said last year’s rollover was about $11,000 and that a prior year had a rollover of roughly $100,000; this year’s rollover is significantly smaller because staff worked to spend the funds. The presenter also noted an ongoing partnership with the village to obtain an additional counselor.
Discussion vs. decision: the board’s vote approved the allocation plan as presented by staff. Discussion focused on spending timelines, past rollover amounts and staffing placement; no policy changes were adopted.
Next steps: staff will implement the expenditure plan as described and continue work on partnerships to expand counseling capacity.
