Wake County Public Schools has lost a five-year federal grant for more than $14 million.
The grant would have allowed the district to expand the current School Board Mental Health Program for 106 schools. It was designed to fund 27 new positions as a part of a long-term goal to provide a mental health counselor in every school by the end of the 2025-2026 school year.
Some positions that would have been funded through the grant include 20 therapists to deliver direct counseling to students as well as instructional assistants to assist students in acute crisis situations across the district.
Currently, 106 WCPSS schools provide access to mental health services through in-person counseling and teletherapy in partnership with community providers. Wake County Public Schools received a letter on April 29 from the U.S. Department of Education, notifying them that the grant would not continue because the programs violated the purpose of civil rights law, conflicting with the Education Department’s policy of prioritizing merit and fairness, and amounted to an inappropriate use of federal money.
Meanwhile, UNC-Chapel Hill was awarded a Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration federal grant in 2023. When the original grant was awarded, the university expected to receive grants for five years. The first year’s award was more than $389,000. UNC also received a letter from the U.S. Department of Education that said the program will discontinue at the end of December.
The last two years of the grant will not be funded, which is a total of more than $943,000. UNC said in a statement, it is early in the process of determining impacts and will have more information in the coming weeks.
