Budget Cuts & Staffing Shortages: Prepare to Innovate

3 major challenges and 1 innovative idea to support student mental health in 2025 

Across the country, school districts are bracing for cuts to Medicaid and multiple other federal funding streams they have historically relied on to support student mental health. On top of that, high turnover and a shortage of qualified school counselors only exacerbates the growing gap between student needs and available resources.

Find out what school districts are up against in 2025, and then explore how to avoid paralysis and shift your current support plan in a way that maximizes impact for students during these difficult and uncertain times.

Challenge #1 - Bracing for Cuts to Medicaid

In March 2025, the Healthy Schools Campaign released a report that included a summary of how superintendents say their programs will be impacted if school-based Medicaid programs are cut or eliminated entirely. Here are some key findings:

• 90% say the cuts would affect other parts of the district’s budget, putting even more pressure on schools to do more with less.
• 80% of district leaders expect layoffs of school health staff due to proposed cuts to school-based Medicaid programs.
• 70% anticipate reductions in mental and behavioral health services.
  

Challenge #2 - The Hidden Cost of Counselor Turnover

Even when funding is available, staffing shortages and high turnover rates make it hard to deliver consistent support:

• The national student-to-counselor ratio is 464:1, nearly double the recommended 250:1, according to a 2019 report. Nearly 8 million students have no access to a school counselor, and almost 3 million lack access to any mental health support staff like psychologists or social workers.
  
  
• School counselors experience high burnout and turnover rates, often leaving after fewer than two years due to burnout, excessive caseloads, and non-counseling duties
  

This instability makes it difficult for students to build trust and receive consistent support, not to mention the financial costs associated with high turnover rates.

Challenge #3 - Additional Federal Funding Cuts

In addition to the looming threat of cuts to Medicaid, many other federal funding streams are expiring or facing abrupt cuts in 2025. These include:

• Loss of pandemic-era funding – the U.S. Department of Education recently revoked extensions that would have allowed schools to spend ESSER funds through 2026, along with terminating over $1.1 billion in additional COVID-era programs, cutting off support for tutoring, facility upgrades, and vulnerable student populations.
  
  
• Beyond this, the Department of Education has seen significant workforce reductions, threatening programs like Title I and REAP.
  
  
• Additional losses such as the recently lapsed Secure Rural Schools program and proposed SNAP cuts will further reduce resources in many high-need communities.
  

In short: schools are being asked to meet growing student needs with fewer staff and unexpected changes to funding availability on levels that feel unprecedented. 

Rethinking Budget to Avoid Paralysis

In this difficult environment, school districts need to rethink how they are allocating their budget to best support the needs of students. In a perfect world, every district could easily achieve the recommended 250:1 counselor-to-student ratio and counselor turnover would significantly decrease due to much lower rates of burnout.

Understanding the Burnout Cycle

Unfortunately, when schools are not able to achieve the ideal support ratio, problems begin to snowball:

• Tier 1 students do not have access to individualized support, meaning there is little to no prevention/early intervention happening, thus increasing the number of students whose needs escalate to Tier 2 and 3
• Tier 2 and 3 students are under-supported, feeding back into the cycle of burned out staff. 
• Staff is over-extended, leading to burn out, high turn-over and fewer qualified individuals entering the field

Breaking the Cycle with Alongside’s Evidence-Based Tier 1 Support 

Until recently, Tier 1 social and emotional support was generally thought of as a one-size-fits-all solution that could only be delivered through a universal curriculum. Thanks to breakthroughs in technology, Alongside is changing the game with an evidence-based approach to providing individualized support for every student through a digital platform that is low cost and easy to implement. 

By equipping students with an effective tool to help them build resilience and navigate everyday challenges, schools are able to:

• Support all students with scalable, personalized support
• Identify at-risk students early – before problems escalate
• Reduce the burden on overstretched counselors
• Bonus: Alongside also provides educator support features to help reduce staff burnout

CASE STUDY: See how Chelsea Public Schools is breaking the burn-out cycle and supporting more students by investing in Tier 1

As budget cuts loom and needs rise, districts must be resourceful. While the current state of uncertainty may have you feeling overwhelmed, one proactive way to ensure your students have baseline support is to take a look at how you can shift a fraction of your investment in student services to a scalable, sustainable, and personalized Tier 1 solution like Alongside. 

Act now to join districts that are rethinking support in 2025.

To get started, set up a free demo account and take a few minutes to experience Alongside’s individualized approach to Tier 1 support for yourself.