Claire Allen-Platt

A series of school shootings and post-pandemic concerns about student emotional and psychological wellbeing prompted renewed federal interest in school-based mental health services. Congress responded with the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022 (BSCA) to support a variety of violence reduction strategies, including a significant boost in funding for two U.S. Department of Education programs that seek to increase the number and diversity of school-based mental health service providers in

Federal policy has long committed to cover a portion of the added costs of special education and related services that must be provided to students with disabilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). But what are these costs? The best national estimates of special education spending, a proxy for cost, are more than 20 years old. Since then, there have been significant shifts in the number and composition of students with disabilities and in the policies and conditio

Recent school shootings and lingering effects from the pandemic have sparked renewed concerns about school safety and student well-being. In response, Congress passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) of 2022 and provided $1 billion in funding for the Stronger Connections Grant Program (BSCA-SC) to supplement other efforts intended to make schools safer and more supportive for learning. Through BSCA-SC, states competitively award subgrants to high-need districts to help them prevent