Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE): Office of Safe and Supportive Schools: School-Based Mental Health Services (SBMH) Grant Program

The U.S. Department of Education, through its Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, administers the School-Based Mental Health Services Grant Program. This program is designed to address the increasing need for qualified school-based mental health providers by expanding the number of credentialed school psychologists serving students in high-need local educational agencies. The program provides competitive discretionary grants to state educational agencies, local educational agencies, and consortia of LEAs, with the primary goal of ensuring more timely access to mental health support in schools facing significant student well-being challenges. The program’s purpose is to increase the number of credentialed school psychologists in high-need districts while building sustainable infrastructure for early intervention and intensive mental health services. By supporting recruitment, retention, and respecialization of professionals, the program directly addresses shortages in the education workforce and aims to improve student outcomes in communities disproportionately affected by poverty, school violence, trauma, and related stressors. The program prohibits the use of funds for direct medical services, gender ideology, political activism, racial stereotyping, or hostile environments, ensuring that resources are used strictly for educationally relevant mental health services. Applicants must submit detailed plans describing how they will identify and serve high-need LEAs, provide baseline data on the number of existing credentialed school psychologists, and project the number of hires and retentions supported by grant funds. SEAs must explain how they will select participating LEAs, while LEAs must demonstrate eligibility under the high-need LEA definition. All applicants must include a plan for service delivery, capacity building, and compliance with federal privacy and disability laws such as FERPA, PPRA, IDEA, Section 504, and the ADA. Administrative costs are capped at 10% for SEAs and 5% for LEAs. Awards are estimated at $1.25 to $1.75 million, with an average of $1.5 million per grantee, for a project period of up to 48 months. Approximately 25–35 awards will be made, contingent on available funds. Total estimated program funding is $180 million. Applications opened September 29, 2025, with a submission deadline of October 29, 2025. There is no required cost-sharing or matching. Subgrants may be made by SEAs to LEAs but not vice versa. Applications will be evaluated against selection criteria under 34 CFR 75.210, with up to 100 points available across categories including need for the project, quality of project design, adequacy of resources, and management plan. Competitive preference points are available for respecialization plans and rural applicants. Applicants must propose ambitious but achievable performance targets measuring new hires, retention rates, and student-to-psychologist ratios. Applications must be submitted in compliance with the Department’s Common Instructions for Discretionary Grant Programs. Recommended application narratives should not exceed 15 pages. Grantees must ensure service provision begins within 270 days of award. Contact for further information is Amy Banks, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20202-6450; email Amy.Banks@ed.gov; phone (202) 987-1780. The program listing and official documents are available through the Federal Register and the Department’s grant webpage. The opportunity is not recurring beyond this cycle unless funding is renewed through future appropriations.