WITH BACK TO SCHOOL AROUND THE CORNER, SCHUMER DEMANDS DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION IMMEDIATELY RELEASE $8+ MILLION IN BLOCKED FED FUNDING FOR ROCHESTER-FINGER LAKES SCHOOL DISTRICTS, IMPACTING 250+ SCHOOL MENTAL HEALTH POSITIONS FOR THOUSANDS OF FINGER LAKES STUDENTS
Earlier This Year, Trump Terminated Nearly $20M In Fed Grants For NY – Including $8+M For Finger Lakes Region – Which Help Hire Mental Health Professionals In Rural, Traditionally Underserved School Districts
Schumer Says With Mental Health Issues Skyrocketing For Students, And School Starting Later This Month, We Can’t Afford To Rip 250+ Mental Health Professionals Out Of Rochester-Finger Lakes Schools Impacting 27,000+ Students
Schumer: We Must Protect Mental Health Resources For Rural Finger Lakes Schools
Standing in the Seneca Falls High School after Trump’s Department of Education wrongfully ripped away federal grants that support mental health, U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer today stood with teachers and mental health professionals to demand the DOE immediately release over $8 million for Rochester-Finger Lakes schools.
With the school year starting later this month, Schumer said the clock is ticking on restoring these grants to ensure students do not lose out on mental health services. He warned that cuts like these disproportionately hurt students in rural districts like Seneca Falls Central School District, which already faces a shortage of mental health providers.
“Protecting students’ mental health should not be a partisan issue. By cutting off millions in federal funding, Trump is ripping hundreds of mental health professionals out of Rochester-Finger Lakes Schools and putting more than 27,000 students at risk,” said Senator Schumer. “Mental health professionals in Rochester-Finger Lakes Schools have a proven track record of improving academic performance and attendance. With school starting later this month, the clock is ticking on restoring these grants and ensuring our kids have access to adequate mental health resources. That’s why I’m demanding the Trump administration immediately release the federal funding that our schools need to keep our students safe.”
If not reversed, Schumer said these cuts will impact over 27,000 students in the Rochester-Finger Lakes region, impacting a whopping 264 mental health professionals' positions out of schools where they were to be placed over the next five years and harming the students depending on them for counseling, crisis intervention, and violence prevention. These professionals have a proven track record of improving student academic performance and attendance, and Schumer said cuts like this are as backward as it gets.
In a letter to U.S. Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon, Schumer explained that schools, mental health professionals, and students in the Rochester-Finger Lakes region were relying on this awarded grant funding to provide in-person counseling and critical support services to thousands of local students that help prevent school violence, improve academic performance, and improve attendance. These cuts will hit rural areas like Seneca Falls School District, where there is already a shortage of mental health resources, especially hard. Over $8.4 million in federal funding has been eliminated for the Rochester-Finger Lakes region, and over $19 million statewide.
Below is a breakdown of impacted awards in the Rochester-Finger Lakes Region:
|
Grant Recipient |
Mental Health Service Professionals (MHSP) grants Amount Awarded |
MHSP Funds Frozen |
Impacted # of School Counselor Positions Potentially Going Unfilled Due to Freeze |
# of Students Reliant On This Mental Health Support |
|
Seneca Falls Central School District |
$6,000,000 |
$2,398,636 |
90 |
7,957 |
|
Lyons Central School District |
$5,000,000 |
$5,000,000 |
150 |
9,930 |
|
Nazareth University |
$2,600,000 |
$1,038,666 |
24 |
9,718 |
|
TOTAL |
$13,600,000 |
$8,437,302 |
264 |
27,605 |
In the Rochester-Finger Lakes Region, 176 Mental Health professionals earning their graduate degrees have already been placed in schools through the 5-year Mental Health Service Professionals Project (MHSP) grants awarded to the Sodus, Lyons, and Seneca Falls Central School Districts and to Nazareth University. In these placements, graduate students get real-world experience working with students in school while they complete their degrees. At the same time, schools and students benefit from having dedicated mental health professionals available to support and work with students. Moreover, in the past three years, 85% of these graduate students, after earning their degree, were subsequently hired into permanent jobs in the schools or in areas with a shortage of mental health professionals.
Senator Schumer discussed how this has been a win-win-win: a win for mental health professionals earning their graduate degrees to bolster the local mental health workforce, a win for students to get their mental health support they need, and a win for schools to hire counselors for hard-to-fill mental health jobs in their schools. An additional 264 Mental Health Professionals were slated to be placed in schools over the coming five years but that will now not occur if these grants are terminated.
Sodus CSD was awarded a $2.5 million 5-year MSHP grant in 2019, Seneca Falls CSD was awarded a $6 million 5-year MSHP grant in 2022, of which $2.3M is now being frozen, Nazareth University was awarded a $2.6 million 5-year MSHP grant in 2022, of which over $1 million is now being frozen, and Lyons CSD was awarded a $5 million 5-year MHSP grant last year of which all $5 million is now being frozen. Together, each of the awardees provided mental health professionals earning their graduate degrees from Nazareth University, Roberts Wesleyan University, Syracuse University, St John Fisher, and University of Rochester with on-the-job training, internships, and placement in more than 18 school districts across the Rochester Finger Lakes region.
Funding cuts will hit school districts throughout the Rochester-Finger Lakes region, including Romulus, Seneca Falls, South Seneca, and Waterloo in Seneca County; East Irondequoit, Gates-Chili, Greece, and Rush-Henrietta in Monroe County; Lyons, Marion, Palmyra-Macedon, and Williamson in Wayne County; and Geneva and Manchester-Shortsville in Ontario County.
Through the program, many students completed internships at schools, which inspired their careers in educational settings. School counselors placed through the program have had true success improving the lives of their students and keeping their communities safe. For example, professionals have supported students with a history of self-harm, boosted student self-confidence, taught de-escalation and communications skills, and more. Students repeatedly report that mental health professionals in their schools have made big impacts on their lives.
Dr. Hennessey Lustica, Project Director in the Seneca Falls and Lyons School Districts, said, “When the federal funding was discontinued, it wasn’t just a line item in a budget that disappeared—it was trusted adults in schools, critical mental health supports, and a lifeline for students in crisis. We saw the progress we had worked so hard to build put at risk overnight. Without sustained investment, rural and underserved communities are left vulnerable to losing the very resources that help their youth thrive.”
Dr. Matt Barr, Superintendent, Lyons School District, said, “The Wellness Workforce Collaborative has brought talented, passionate interns into our schools—people who already understand our community, connect with our students, and step into critical roles from day one. We’ve been able to hire them back as full-time staff, creating stability for kids and families who depend on those relationships. If this funding disappears, so does that pipeline. It means fewer counselors in our halls, longer wait times for support, and more students slipping through the cracks. For our rural communities, the loss will be immediate and deeply felt.”
Schumer originally led the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to passage as Majority Leader in 2022 following the tragic mass shootings on Buffalo’s East Side and in Uvalde, TX. The law, the first significant gun safety bill in nearly 30 years, increased funding to expand mental health programs and supportive services in schools that the Trump administration has now terminated, including:
- $500 million through the School Based Mental Health Services (SBMH) program to increase the number of qualified mental health service providers that provide school-based mental health services to students in school districts with demonstrated need
- $500 million through the Mental Health Service Professional
sDemonstration Grant (MHSP) to establish innovative pipelines that help train school counselors, school social workers, and school psychologists
Schumer said there is a more urgent need for mental health professionals than ever, with an estimated nationwide shortage of over 200,000 mental health professionals, including school counselors, by 2037 that will only worsen without sustained funding. Right now, according to the Associated Press, in Wayne, Ontario, Yates, and Seneca Counties, there is only one mental health provider for every 1,100 students. Some Rochester-Finger Lakes regions impacted have a high population of students who have moved due to economic hardship, impacting their mental health, which school mental health counselors can address. In addition, in a survey of 6th-12th grade students in Wayne County, nearly half reported feeling depressed most of the time, and one in three said their lives lacked clear purpose or meaning.
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