Northern Colorado school district to cut mental health services for students after losing federal funding

A school district in Northern Colorado says it plans to cut mental health services for students by the end of the year after losing federal funding. The funding for the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act was cut earlier this year, just a few years after Congress passed school-based mental health services following the deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. 

The Poudre School District said it worked in partnership with Colorado State University to administer a five-year award of more than $9 million. That funding supported the placement of 29 CSU social work students who provide mental health support to students in Poudre Schools. 

The $6 million in anticipated funding will no longer be available, meaning Poudre School District will lose at least 15 mental health workers in December. 

"If some of the root of the concerns come from mental health support, then we shouldn't be taking away that support; we should be adding, increasing it. We shouldn't be eliminating it. We should be adding on," said Candice Mozer, President of the Poudre Education Association.

A representative of the Trump administration told Politico that the mental health grants conflicted with the new federal policy "prioritizing merit, fairness, and excellence in education" and that it intended to re-envision mental health funds to more effectively support students.