A federal subsidy to support students of the state with mental health challenges was canceled last week by the Trump administration, which said that the subsidy is in conflict with the priorities of the new government.
The quinquennial subsidy of 1.5 million dollars aimed to confront the critical shortage of mental health professionals in schools by Colorado.
“We are deeply disappointed with this decision,” said the Ministry of Education of Colorado in a statement. “Responding to students’ mental health needs remains one of the most urgent priorities identified by school leaders and the Colorado district.”
The cuts, which total $ 1 billion on a national scale, seem to reflect the wide attack of the Trump administration against the efforts of diversity, equity and inclusion. The loss of the subsidy probably means that many young people who are experiencing mental health challenges will not get the support they need at school. Anxiety and depression rates in young people began to stand up during the pandemic, and the use of social media has worsened trends.
In October, the Federal Department of Education awarded the School -based mental health subsidy to extend mental health services for Colorado students. The subsidy, which would have provided $ 1.5 million each year of 2025-29, aimed to help school districts to recruit and retain mental health professionals. This would also have contributed to re-specializing existing mental health professionals to serve students in schools.
Push the funds after Uvalde
After a teenager shooter killed 19 children and two teachers in a school in Uvalde, Texas, in 2022, Congress sent $ 1 billion to grant programs to help schools hire more advisers and school psychologists.
THE Biden administration has given the candidates more who planned to train advisers to work with students from various backgrounds. Research Mental health issues among colored students were higher than white students during the pandemic.
In a statement, the Federal Ministry of Education said that prices “did not go the administrative priorities.” He revealed that several things about the subsidy are problematic, including objectives to ensure that certain advisers were color advisers, staff training to fight against racial trauma and stress and to challenge “the omnipresence of white supremacy”.
“These subsidies are intended to improve the mental health of American students by funding additional mental health professionals in schools and on campuses,” said Madi Biedermann, assistant communications assistant secretary in the department. “Instead, under the deeply wrong priorities of the Biden administration, the beneficiaries of Grant used funding to implement actions based on breed as the recruitment of quotas in a way that has nothing to do with mental health and could harm students even that subsidies are supposed to help.”
Managers of Colorado and several other states were informed last week that the subsidy would not continue after December 31, 2025. It was in its early implementation phase and that no fund had yet been distributed. However, schools in certain states seemed to keep their grants.