Oklahoma schools to receive grants to boost MH staff, resources

Norman Public Schools will get a boost to its district counseling and mental health resources with several hundred thousand dollars in grant funding from Oklahoma, education leaders announced last week and The Norman Transcript reported July 5. The Oklahoma State Department of Education is awarding over $35 million — sourced from federal relief dollars — to fund counseling and mental health grants for 181 school districts in the state. The grant fund, called the Oklahoma School Counselor Corps, is intended to be used to hire “school counselors and school‐based mental health professionals” to “meet the needs of children in the wake of the COVID‐19 pandemic,” according to a Department of Education news release. The grant is expected to fund 50% of the salary and benefit costs for the new staff for three years, or through the 2023–24 school year. In grant applications, districts could list their direct needs for counselors, school‐based mental health professionals, social workers and recreational therapists. Norman Public Schools will receive $384,000 from the grant. “These grants can bring transformational change to schools, some of which have not had a single school counselor,” State Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister said in a statement.