New York City is poised to lose funding for 60 school psychologists and nearly a quarter of the roughly 2,000 social workers embedded in public schools, even as Mayor Eric Adams has warned of an ongoing “youth mental health crisis.”
The support staff were hired as part of a major expansion of mental health services in city schools that Bill de Blasio’s administration launched in 2021 to address trauma caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. But the funding for the posts under the federal American Rescue Plan Act is set to expire in September and no local tax dollars have replaced those funds yet.
The pending loss comes as parents, educators and mental health experts continue to voice concern about long delays scheduling mental health appointments for children. Three years after the launch of the pandemic-era program, child welfare advocates say demand for therapists, psychologists and psychiatrists remains just as high.
“When children don’t get the services they need upstream, their needs become more intense and more complex, and then they end up in ERs and hospitals,” said Alice Bufkin, associate executive director for policy and advocacy at the nonprofit Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York.
Local organizations serving children and families praised the City Council this week for including $550 million in its proposed budget for an array of school services that stand to be eliminated or reduced as funding from the federal American Rescue Plan Act expires. The Council’s proposal includes $67 million for the 450 school social workers whose positions are on the chopping block, along with $10 million to retain psychologists and other support staff.
But the outlook is uncertain, as Adams left that funding out of his own preliminary budget plan in January amid efforts to scale back city spending. The mayor is due to release a revised spending proposal this month, and negotiations with councilmembers will continue until the final budget is due out in July.
The…
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