Agency official says district cut most student social-emotional supports after federal aid ended and levy loss

An agency official said the district eliminated the majority of its social-emotional and mental-health supports after temporary federal pandemic funding ended and local levy revenue was lost. “We had to eliminate the majority of our social-emotional and mental-health support across the district,” the official said.

The official said the district used federal pandemic funds to help bring students back to school and to provide counseling and other supports. “One of the things we learned during the pandemic is how important this support is for our students,” the speaker said, but added that the funding was temporary and has since stopped.

Faced with the end of federal relief, the speaker said districts were forced to choose whether to cut the pandemic-funded positions or reduce other services. In this case, the official said the district also lost levy funding and therefore did not have the option to preserve those roles.

The official described continuing and growing student need for social-emotional and mental-health services and said that locating community-based care is difficult. “All of our students are hurting in some way or another,” the official said, adding that finding services for a child is challenging both locally and across the state.

The transcript does not record any specific new funding proposals, motions, or votes on restoring positions, nor does it name the official speaking. The remarks underscore an ongoing budget gap between temporary pandemic-era aid and sustainable local funding for student mental-health supports.