Kentucky’s students need more mental health help in school but House budget appears to ignore it
Children across Kentucky are suffering. As school mental health professionals, we see this every day and others are recognizing it as well. In just the few past editions of the Herald-Leader, we have heard this message from the FCPS superintendent, members of the Let Them Learn Facebook group, and professionals at the Kentucky Children’s Hospital. Parents and teachers see it happening every day. Our children’s mental health has suffered over the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But while no one disputes this reality, the budget passed by the Kentucky House completely cut out funding for school-based mental health service providers.
Fortunately for the students of Fayette County, FCPS acted in 2018 to increase its funding for school-based mental health. As a result, the district is close to providing 1 mental health provider for every 250 students – a key goal of the 2019 KY School Safety and Resiliency Act . The funding generated by a 5-cent tax per 100-dollar increase on real estate has provided our students with many options for helping with their mental health needs. Thankfully, many are utilizing these resources to the fullest according to a recent report on mental health services by FCPS Superintendent Liggins.
While FCPS students will continue to have those resources, students in other districts are not as fortunate. Recognizing the mental health needs of Kentucky’s students, the General Assembly budgeted in 2020 funding in the amount of $7.4 million per year for all of Kentucky’s 171 districts to hire one school-based mental health service provider per district to improve the provider-to-student ratio. This was a significant step in the right direction and the General Assembly should be given credit for this forward-thinking action.
However, even with that funding, many districts in Kentucky are still unable to meet the 1:250 ratio. This is especially true for Kentucky’s smaller districts who do not have the benefit of a large tax base. Lewis County, with a student population of approximately 2,600 students, has a ratio of 1:368 mental health provider to student. According to their website, they have six school counselors plus one school social worker who is funded by the General Assembly’s action. Without this funding, their ratio could become 1:429, resulting in a great loss of resources for their students.
The legislature’s current budget bill – HB 1 – does not continue even current funding levels, despite the General Assembly’s own School Funding Task Force recommending that the School Safety and Resiliency Act be fully funded. Unless it is corrected, this budget cut will leave many students across Kentucky without the support they have depended on for the past two years. This cut may have been an oversight, but the mental health of our students demands that we draw attention to this deletion and call for restoration of the funds.
Recently, the Kentucky Association for School Social Work, the Kentucky Association for Psychology in the Schools and the Kentucky School Counselor Association presented lawmakers with a plan to not only continue funding school mental health services, but to increase school based providers across the state by 134 providers. This funding could significantly improve each district’s ratio, providing even more help for students.
Everyone recognizes the difficulties our children are experiencing as a result of the COVID pandemic, and we all agree that our children need resources to help them improve their mental health. There is no controversy here. By restoring, and hopefully, increasing mental health funding for school mental health service providers, the Senate has the opportunity to make a significant improvement in the lives of thousands of Kentucky’s children from every district in the Commonwealth. We hope you will join us in urging them to do just that.
Lori E. Vogel, LCSW is past president of the Kentucky Association for School Social Work. Patrick Ballard is president of the Kentucky Association for Psychology in the Schools.