As special state funding for Michigan public school mental health staff during the pandemic ends this year, schools are scrambling to find ways to keep professionals in their buildings.
The $240 million grant was launched in 2021 as students grappled with challenges, from virtual learning and sports cancellations to the loss of loved ones due to the coronavirus. The district is currently exploring alternatives.
Diane Gorzinski, assistant superintendent of business, health and library services for the Michigan Department of Education, said the options include the School Mental Health Apprenticeship, which encourages people to choose a career in mental health by giving them financial support. program.
“The reason we pay people who need to do supervised internships to get into this field is to give them a small wage so they can actually do the internships.” Gorzinski explained.
He noted that school districts can also apply for Medicaid matching funds for all eligible jobs and use those funds to keep mental health personnel in schools.
Gorzinski emphasized that the goal is to create a comprehensive school mental health system.
“We don’t just want to put specialists in schools, we want to put specialists in schools where schools need them, because there are different types of specialists,” Gorzinski said. “It could be a psychologist, it could be a counselor, it could be a social worker, it could be a school nurse.”
She emphasized that her department is also working with school districts on how to best utilize mental health staff.
Critics may counter that it is the responsibility of parents to take care of their children’s mental health needs. But Gorzinski countered that it is often in schools that these problems are pointed out and acknowledged.
“The school works with the family to support this child so that he or she can be the best learner he or she can be,” Gorzinski asserted.
Gorzinski also added to the table a school mental health funding program that proposes a per-pupil allocation to each school district.
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School districts around Washington and others may have celebrated School Lunch Hero Day Friday in honor of cafeteria workers, but food workers are looking for more than just a pat on the back. They want wages that are in line with inflation.
There are approximately 6,500 school food workers in Washington state, who earn an average full-time annual salary of just over $54,000.
Paul Buse-Bing is the kitchen manager at Pine Lake Middle School in Sammamish.
“Every position in the school district is important and everyone works hard, but students who don’t eat properly are unable to eat nutritious meals and participate to their fullest in academics. So what we do is very important,” he said.
This year, lawmakers rejected Superintendent Chris Reykdal’s request for a $7-an-hour raise for paraeducators. He said in his re-election campaign that he would seek a broader increase in classified workers next year.
Busevin said relatively low wages are making it difficult to find enough staff while the cost of living is rising.
“We often go through the school year understaffed, with no one or anyone else to fill in when people get sick or go on vacation, and a lot of it has to do with wages. Especially because of inflation,” he added.
Many school districts say they are underfunded and need more state resources to do so.
Recruit and retain qualified workers.
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Today is Teacher Appreciation Week, and there’s a lot of news about how much South Dakota pays its teachers.
The national average teacher salary increased by about 4% from the 2021 to 2022 school year to nearly $70,000 annually, according to the National Education Association’s annual rankings and estimates report.
But even after accounting for inflation, teachers still earn 5% less than they did a decade ago.
Lauren Paul, president of the South Dakota Education Association, said South Dakota teachers had the highest salary increases in the nation this year, with increases of more than 5 percent.
“And over the past three years, we’ve seen more than what the state requires,” Paul said. “So I hope we can continue this trend.”
Despite the increase, South Dakota’s salary ranked 49th in the nation at just over $53,000.
The last time the South Dakota Legislature enacted legislation to increase teacher pay was in 2016, when it increased the state sales tax by $0.005.
South Dakota ranked highest in Thursday’s report for starting salaries, with an average of $43,000. Paul said this helps bring in new educators, but doesn’t do much to retain them.
“Overall salary increases are related to retention,” says Paul, “and if you’re going to be lost to the top faster than you can get back to the bottom, it’s important to look at averages and not just starting salaries.” It’s about raising it,” he said.
He said teacher retention and shortages remained a national issue. North Dakota and Wyoming, both highly ranked states, use state revenue from the fossil fuel industry to pay teachers.
Disclosure: The South Dakota Education Association donates to our foundation for education reporting. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.
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Student organizers say hundreds of Ohio State students gathered at Kent State University to protest the Gaza conflict over the weekend, marking the 54th anniversary of the Vietnam War protests that left four students dead in the Gaza Strip. , said their movement is gaining momentum.
Rachel Collier, program director for the Ohio State Student Association, said students are condemning last month’s violent mass arrests of protesters and are escalating their actions.
Collier said students are currently being driven by a moral compass that is lacking in elected leadership.
“Students clearly understand that genocide is wrong and that supporting genocide is wrong,” Collier said. “And they are organizing wherever they have influence to demand that their universities and institutions reflect their values.”
Protesters say they want the university to sever its economic ties to Israel and acknowledge the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Critics of the protests say the demonstrators are creating a hostile campus environment for Jewish students and supporters of Israel.
Collier said student demonstrators remained resolute and focused on their cause despite the violence.
“There has been so much better organization going on over the years,” Collier said. “And we are here united as part of a vast movement of students and student organizations.”
President Joe Biden defended students’ right to peacefully protest in a video address to the nation last week, but said there was “no right to cause disruption.”
To date, an estimated 2,000 people have been arrested at dozens of campuses across the country.
Support for this reporting was provided by Media in the Public Interest and partially funded by the George Gund Foundation.
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