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# FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Highlights Efforts to Support K-12 Education as Students go Back-to-School

# FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Highlights Efforts to Support K-12 Education as Students go Back-to-School

August 28, 2023

**Contact:  **press@ed.gov

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The  President and First Lady will mark the start of the school year by visiting  students at Eliot-Hine Middle School in Washington, D.C. When President Biden  took office, less than half of K-12 students were going to school in person.  Today, thanks to the President’s swift actions and historic investments, every  school in America is open safely for in-person instruction. Since Day One,  President Biden has worked to help every school open safely for in-person  instruction, accelerate academic achievement, and build communities where all  students feel they belong. The actions the President has taken to support schools  and the students they serve, include:

**Securing the Largest  Investment in Public Education in History to Help Students Get Back to School  and Recover Academically:** COVID-19 created unprecedented challenges for  kids, from school closures to lost instructional time and social isolation from  their peers. To support the immediate response and the long-term recovery work  our students need, the President secured $130 billion through the American  Rescue Plan (ARP) to help schools safely reopen, stay open, and address the  academic and mental health needs of students. ARP funding has put more teachers  in our classrooms and more counselors, social workers, and other staff in our  schools; is providing high-quality tutoring; supporting record expansion of  summer and after-school programming; supporting HVAC improvements within school  buildings to address air quality and environmental and safety needs in aging  school buildings; and providing a wide range of student supports. Compared with  the pre-pandemic period, as of the end of last year school year, the number of  public school social workers is up 39% and the number of public school nurses  is up 30%. Nearly half of school districts using these funds to expand summer  learning programs have shown clear gains in math. While we have further to go,  we are seeing increased evidence of improvement, including several states  returning to pre-pandemic levels of achievement on their state math and  literacy assessments.

**Expanding Access to Mental  Health Support in Schools Across the Country:** Students around the nation  continue to grapple with mental health challenges. Rates of depression,  anxiety, and feelings of hopelessness were already on the rise, but  unprecedented disruptions in their school and social lives in the past years,  have exacerbated these concerns. That’s why the President named tackling the  mental health crisis, particularly among America’s young people, a top  priority. Last year, the President signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act  (BSCA) into law last year as the first major federal gun safety bill passed in  nearly 30 years. BSCA included historic levels of funding to address youth  mental health, including $2 billion for the Department of Education (ED) to  create safe, inclusive learning environments for students and hire and train  more mental health professionals for schools—where students are most likely to  receive these crucial services. ED has awarded $286 million to date across 264  grantees in 48 states and DC to support mental health services in schools—investments  that are estimated to support more than 14,000 new mental health professionals  in schools in the coming years. ED is also working closely with the Department  of Health and Human Services (HHS) to further extend the reach of federal mental  health programs and investments into schools, and to leverage Medicaid funding  to provide crucial health and mental health services at schools. Earlier this  year, the Administration released comprehensive guidance to make it easier for  schools to bill Medicaid, including proposing a rule that would streamline  Medicaid billing permissions to deliver mental health services to students. The  Administration also launched a technical assistance center to help schools take  advantage of this crucial funding stream—which supported an additional  investment of more than $6 billion in schools in 2022.

**Expanding Community Schools  that Improve Academic Success:**Meeting the needs of the  whole child is essential to help America’s students grow academically and  improve their well-being. That’s why the President is committed to increasing  and supporting the adoption of community school models across the country.  Full-Service Community Schools leverage local non-profit, private sector, and  public partnerships to bring wraparound services into school buildings, such as  health services, and assistance with shelter and nutrition. Research has shown  that these schools contribute to increased student attendance, on-time grade  progression, and high school graduation. Because of the President’s commitment  to this model, federal funding for this model has increased five-fold over the  course of this Administration. While the program supported 170 schools before  2021, it is now reaching more than 1,700 schools serving almost 800,000 students.  Additionally, agencies across the federal government have also identified the  ways that additional resources can  support the expansion of this model and further integrate wraparound supports  into our schools.

**Expanding Teacher and Staff  Capacity by Bringing in Tutors and Mentors:** To provide students  with the support they need to recover from the impacts of the pandemic, the  President issued a call to action to bring 250,000 more tutors, mentors and  other critical supports into schools over three years. Last summer, ED,  AmeriCorps, and the Johns Hopkins University’s Everyone Graduates Center  launched the National Partnership for Student Success (NPSS), a public-private  partnership to accomplish this goal. To support this effort, ED recently  launched a call to action to colleges, encouraging them to devote a greater  share of their Federal Work-Study funds to bring college students into K-12  schools as tutors and in other high-impact roles. Early adopters include more  than two dozen colleges ranging from large public university systems, like the  State University of New York, to Howard University and Hispanic-Serving  Institutions. In the coming weeks, NPSS will highlight progress towards the  President’s goal during the 2022-2023 school year.

**Growing an Effective  Teacher and School Leadership Workforce:**From February to May 2020,  communities lost 730,000 local public education jobs during the pandemic—a 9%  decline in local public education employment—including teachers, specialized  instructional support personnel, and other critical staff. As of June 2023, local  public education employment has increased by 635,000 jobs since its low point  in May 2020. This significant rebound now means that there are now only 1.2%  fewer individuals working in local public education than before the pandemic;  this progress has been significantly fueled by investments in educators through  ARP and other Administration investments. The President has prioritized  building an effective, diverse teacher pipeline, including by expanding  high-quality and affordable programs that prepare and support teachers,  including teacher Registered Apprenticeships. Registered Apprenticeship can be  an effective, high-quality “earn and learn” model that allows prospective  teachers to earn their credential while earning a salary by combining  coursework with structured, paid on-the-job learning experiences with a mentor  teacher. The Administration has worked closely with States to grow the number  of registered apprenticeship programs for teachers from 2 to 23, with  bipartisan governors across the country scaling this effective model. ED has  also advanced teacher diversity by including priorities focused on educator  diversity in 14 grant programs, totaling over $470 million and funding; for the  first time, funding a teacher preparation program for Historically Black  Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges or Universities (TCUs), and  Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) to help accelerate the pace of preparing  teachers of color for America’s schools. ED’s Raise the Bar Policy Brief highlights progress by states across the country,  with the support of the Administration, in advancing key strategies to  eliminate educator shortages in the long term.

**Directing Resources to  Historically Underserved Schools and Students:**The President’s leadership  has garnered substantial increases for Federal student support programs to meet  the needs of historically underserved students. The President has secured a  nearly $2 billion (or 11%) increase in Title I funds, which delivers critical  resources to 90% of school districts across the nation and helps them provide  students in low-income communities with necessary academic opportunities and  supports. Additionally, the President has secured a historic $1.3 billion (or  10%) increase in Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) funds,  which helps states support special education instruction and services for 7.4  million students with disabilities, and increased funding by $92 million for  programs that support English learners. The Administration has also increased  funding to support subpopulations of students, including Alaska Native  Education and Native Hawaiian Education programs which have increased by over  20%.
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