DCFPI Update on School Based Mental Health Ask
/DCFPI from Qubilah Huddleston
How Our Coalition Calculated Its Asks:
· $841K in local, recurring dollars:
o The Mayor’s proposed budget includes $5.8 million in DBH’s budget for SBMH - this is enough to fund 83 schools at a lower grant level (83 schools x ~$70,000 = ~$5.8 million)
o CBO grants should be closer to ~$80,000. The ~$80,000 reflects a roughly $10,000 supplement DBH gave to CBOs for Cohorts 1-3 to cover increased costs in FY 2021. This enhancement was made possible by $1.5M in ESSER GEERS funding that the DME gave to DBH.
o We are asking for an additional $841,000 to get CBO grants for Cohort 4 to the right size of ~$80,000 (83 schools x ~$10,000 = ~$841,000)
· $1.5 million in one-time federal dollars:
o We are also asking for CBOs for Cohort 1-3 to keep receiving a higher grant amount
o DBH gave the ~$10,000 enhancement to CBOs for Cohorts 1-3 to cover increased costs in FY 2021. This enhancement was made possible by $1.5M in ESSER GEERS funding that the DME gave to DBH.
o We are requesting $1.5M in one-time federal dollars in the FY 2022 budget to cover the ~$10,000 enhancement (151 schools x ~$10,000 = ~$1.5 million).
o As we have advocated all year, this enhancement is necessary to ensure SBMH is financially feasible and sustainable in the long run.
· These budget asks combined would allow DBH to “right-size” the grant amounts for CBO providers so all schools have SBMH grants of ~$80,000.
Why Do CBOs Need Larger Grants?
· The SBMH funding model relies on CBO clinicians spending at least 50 percent of their time on Tier 3 (individual) services that are reimbursable by Medicaid. This is how DBH can fund CBO clinicians at a fraction of the cost of DBH clinicians.
· Tier 1 (school-wide) and Tier 2 (small group) services are not reimbursable by Medicaid.
· With schools reopening in the fall, students, teachers, school leaders, and families will all need additional support to successfully reintegrate back into their school communities. Increasing grant amounts for CBOs by just $10,000 per school will reduce billing pressure on CBO clinicians and make it easier for them to focus on the Tier 1 and Tier 2 supports that their schools may need.
· CBO clinicians will seek to meet the needs of their schools regardless of billing pressure. Yet, this financial pressure on CBOs may make it impossible for some of them to continue to provide services through SBMH.