During a July 14, 2025 session at a legislative summit hosted by the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) and the Council of Administrators of Special Education (CASE), special education professionals from across the country urged the federal government to make investments in student mental health, citing the dire need for student supports and the lack of qualified school-based mental health experts. Much of their focus has been on getting the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) to release congressionally approved funding for student mental health services and for professional development.
Notably, despite a recommendation by the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), that schools have one psychologist for every 500 students, USDE data from the 2023-24 school year shows the ratio was 1-to-1,065. Thus, in addition to rising student mental health concerns amid provider shortages, withholding congressionally approved funding for the School-Based Mental Health Services Grant Program and the Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration Grant Program has set off alarms throughout the education community since both are multi-year grant programs that total $1 billion and are part of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act enacted in 2022.
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