School districts across North Carolina have received federal coronavirus pandemic relief money over the past five years to fund school psychologists, helping students with mental health and behavior. Now that funding has ended, the state Board of Education reflected on the program’s takeaways.
A finalized report on the school psychologist grant program shows several school districts that received money didn’t spend large portions of the funds, or didn’t hire full-time psychologists.
But state board Vice Chair Alan Duncan cautioned against reading that as an indication there was a lack of need. He noted in some cases districts didn’t receive enough money to pay full-time psychologists, and instead spent less money to contract with outside providers.
“It does not mean that school psychologists are not desired or wanted in terms of full-time employees in districts," Duncan said. "That would be a mistaken reading of the report.”
Board member Marvin Connelly also noted it was often difficult to find psychologists to fill the spots. The board said it would like to further explore how psychologist staffing levels and student-to-psychologist ratios have changed now that federal funds have expired.
