I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1415 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to provide 

grants to hire and retain school social workers, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 7, 2023 

Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin (for herself and Ms. LEE of California) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and 

the Workforce 

A BILL 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

of 1965 to provide grants to hire and retain school 

social workers, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘School Social Workers 

5 Improving Student Success Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SCHOOL SOCIAL WORKER GRANTS. 

7 (a) PURPOSES.—The purpose of this Act is to assist 

8 States and local educational agencies in hiring additional 

9 school social workers in order to increase access to mental 


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1 health and other student support services to students in 

2 elementary and secondary schools in the United States to 

3 the minimum ratios recommended by the National Asso4 ciation of Social Workers, the School Social Work Associa5 tion of America, and the American Council for School So6 cial Work of one school social worker for every 250 stu7 dents, and one school social worker for every 50 students 

8 when a social worker is providing services to students with 

9 intensive needs. 

10 (b) ESEA AMENDMENTS.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subpart 4 of part F of title 

12 IV of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

13 of 1965 (10 U.S.C. 7271 et seq.) is amended by 

14 adding at the end the following new section: 

15 ‘‘SEC. 4645. GRANTS FOR SCHOOL SOCIAL WORKERS. 

16 ‘‘(a) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—From the amounts appro18 priated under subsection (g), the Secretary shall 

19 award grants to high-need local educational agencies 

20 to enable such agencies to retain school social work21 ers employed by such agencies or to hire additional 

22 school social workers. 

23 ‘‘(2) DURATION.—A grant awarded under this 

24 section shall be awarded for a period not to exceed 

25 4 years. 


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1 ‘‘(3) SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT.—Funds 

2 made available under this section shall be used to 

3 supplement, and not to supplant, other Federal, 

4 State, or local funds used for hiring and retaining 

5 school social workers. 

6 ‘‘(b) APPLICATION.— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive a 

8 grant under this section, a high-need local edu9 cational agency shall submit to the Secretary an ap10 plication at such time, in such manner, and con11 taining such information as the Secretary may re12 quire. 

13 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—An application submitted 

14 under paragraph (1) shall include an assurance that 

15 each school social worker who receives assistance 

16 under the grant will provide the services described in 

17 subsection (d), and a description of the specific serv18 ices to be provided by such social worker. 

19 ‘‘(c) USE OF FUNDS.—A high-need local educational 

20 agency receiving a grant under this section— 

21 ‘‘(1) shall use the grant— 

22 ‘‘(A) to achieve a ratio of not less than 1 

23 school social worker for every 250 students 

24 served by the agency, by— 


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1 ‘‘(i) retaining school social workers 

2 employed by such agency; or 

3 ‘‘(ii)(I) employing additional school 

4 social workers; or 

5 ‘‘(II) hiring contractors to serve as 

6 school social workers only in a case in 

7 which— 

8 ‘‘(aa) the local educational agen9 cy demonstrates to the Secretary that 

10 the agency— 

11 ‘‘(AA) has not been able to 

12 employ a sufficient number of 

13 school social workers under sub14 clause (I) to achieve such ratio 

15 despite strong and continuing ef16 forts to recruit and employ school 

17 social workers; and 

18 ‘‘(BB) hiring contractors is 

19 the only viable option to ensure 

20 students have adequate access to 

21 school social work services; and 

22 ‘‘(bb) each such contractor meets 

23 the requirements of subparagraphs 

24 (A) and (B) of subsection (h)(2); and 


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1 ‘‘(B) to ensure that each school social 

2 worker who receives assistance under such 

3 grant provides the services described in sub4 section (d); and 

5 ‘‘(2) may use the grant to reimburse school so6 cial workers who receive assistance under such grant 

7 for— 

8 ‘‘(A) in the case of a school served by the 

9 agency in which the majority of students are 

10 higher risk students, to hire or retain additional 

11 school social workers in accordance with clauses 

12 (i) and (ii) of paragraph (1)(A) to achieve a 

13 ratio of not less than 1 school social worker for 

14 every 50 students; 

15 ‘‘(B) travel expenses incurred during home 

16 visits and other school-related trips; 

17 ‘‘(C) any additional expenses incurred by 

18 such social workers in rendering any service de19 scribed in subsection (d); and 

20 ‘‘(D) the cost of clinical social work super21 vision for such social workers. 

22 ‘‘(d) RESPONSIBILITIES OF A SCHOOL SOCIAL WORK23 ER.—A school social worker who receives assistance under 

24 a grant under this section shall provide the following serv25 ices: 


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1 ‘‘(1) Identifying high-need students in each 

2 school that the social worker serves, and targeting 

3 services provided at the school to such students. 

4 ‘‘(2) Providing students in each school that the 

5 school social worker serves, social work services to 

6 promote school engagement and improve academic 

7 outcomes, including— 

8 ‘‘(A) counseling and crisis intervention; 

9 ‘‘(B) trauma-informed services; 

10 ‘‘(C) evidence-based educational, behav11 ioral, and mental health services (such as imple12 menting multi-tiered programs and practices, 

13 monitoring progress, and evaluating service ef14 fectiveness); 

15 ‘‘(D) addressing the social and emotional 

16 learning needs of students; 

17 ‘‘(E) promoting a school climate and cul18 ture conducive to student learning and teaching 

19 excellence (such as promoting effective school 

20 policies and administrative procedures, enhanc21 ing the professional capacity of school per22 sonnel, and facilitating engagement between 

23 student, family, school, and community); 

24 ‘‘(F) providing access to school-based and 

25 community based resources (such as promoting 


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1 a continuum of services, mobilizing resources 

2 and promoting assets, and providing leadership, 

3 interdisciplinary collaboration, systems coordi4 nation, professional consultation, and con5 necting students and families to resource sys6 tems); 

7 ‘‘(G) working with students, families, 

8 schools, and communities to address barriers to 

9 educational attainment (such as homelessness 

10 and housing insecurity, lack of transportation, 

11 food insecurity, equity, social justice issues, ac12 cess to quality education, and school, family, 

13 and community risk factors); 

14 ‘‘(H) providing assistance to schools and 

15 teachers to design social-emotional, educational, 

16 behavioral, and mental health interventions; 

17 ‘‘(I) case management activities to coordi18 nate the delivery of and access to the appro19 priate social work services to the highest-need 

20 students; 

21 ‘‘(J) home visits to meet the family of stu22 dents in need of social work services in the 

23 home environment; 

24 ‘‘(K) supervising or coordinating district 

25 level school social work services; and 


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1 ‘‘(L) other services the Secretary deter2 mines, in partnership with students, educators, 

3 and community member voices are necessary to 

4 be carried out by such a social worker. 

5 ‘‘(e) GRANT RENEWAL.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A grant awarded under 

7 this section may be renewed for additional periods 

8 with the same duration as the original grant period. 

9 ‘‘(2) CONTINUING ELIGIBILITY APPLICATION.— 

10 To be eligible for a renewal under this section a 

11 high-need local educational agency shall submit to 

12 the Secretary, for each renewal, a report on the 

13 progress of such agency in retaining and hiring 

14 school social workers to achieve the ratio of not less 

15 than 1 school social worker for every 250 students 

16 served by the agency, and shall include— 

17 ‘‘(A) a description of the staffing expan18 sion of school social workers funded through the 

19 original grant received under this section; and 

20 ‘‘(B) a description of the work conducted 

21 by such social workers for higher risk students. 

22 ‘‘(f) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide 

24 technical assistance to high-need local educational 

25 agencies, including such agencies that do not have 


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1 adequate staff, in applying for grants under this sec2 tion. 

3 ‘‘(2) EXTENSION OF APPLICATION PERIOD.— 

4 The Secretary shall extend any application period 

5 for a grant under this section for any high-need local 

6 educational agency that— 

7 ‘‘(A) submits to the Secretary a written 

8 notification of the intent to apply for a grant 

9 under this section before requesting technical 

10 assistance under paragraph (1); and 

11 ‘‘(B) after submitting the notification 

12 under paragraph (1), requests such technical 

13 assistance. 

14 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION FOR APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

15 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section, 

16 $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 through 2028. 

17 ‘‘(h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

18 ‘‘(1) HIGH-NEED LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGEN19 CY.—The term ‘high-need local educational agency’ 

20 has the meaning given the term in section 200 of the 

21 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1021). 

22 ‘‘(2) SCHOOL SOCIAL WORKER.—The term 

23 ‘school social worker’ means an individual who— 


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1 ‘‘(A) has a graduate degree in social work 

2 from a social work program that is accredited 

3 by the Council on Social Work Education; and 

4 ‘‘(B) meets all other State and local 

5 credentialing requirements for practicing as a 

6 social worker in an elementary school or sec7 ondary school.’’. 

8 (2) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of con9 tents in section 2 of the Elementary and Secondary 

10 Education Act of 1965 is amended by inserting after 

11 the item relating to section 4644 the following: 

‘‘Sec. 4645. Grants for school social workers.’’. 

12 SEC. 3. NATIONAL TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE CENTER FOR 

13 SCHOOL SOCIAL WORK. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Education, act15 ing through the Assistant Secretary, shall establish an 

16 evaluation, documentation, dissemination, and technical 

17 assistance resource center to provide appropriate informa18 tion, training, and technical assistance to States, political 

19 subdivisions of States, federally recognized Indian tribes, 

20 tribal organizations, institutions of higher education, State 

21 and local educational agencies, and individual students 

22 and educators with respect to hiring and retaining school 

23 social workers at elementary schools and secondary 

24 schools served by local educational agencies. 


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1 (b) RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE CENTER.—The center 

2 established under subsection (a) shall conduct activities 

3 for the purpose of— 

4 (1) developing and continuing statewide or trib5 al strategies for improving the effectiveness of the 

6 school social work workforce; 

7 (2) studying the costs and effectiveness of 

8 school social work programs at institutions of higher 

9 education to identify areas of improvement and pro10 vide information on relevant issues of importance to 

11 State, tribal, and national policymakers; 

12 (3) working with Federal agencies and other 

13 State, Tribal, and national stakeholders to collect, 

14 evaluate, and disseminate data regarding school so15 cial work ratios, outcomes and best practices of 

16 school-based mental health services, and impact of 

17 expanding the number of school social workers with18 in elementary schools and secondary schools; 

19 (4) establishing partnerships among National, 

20 State, Tribal, and local governments, and local edu21 cational agencies, institutions of higher education, 

22 non-profit organizations, and State and national 

23 trade associations for the purposes of— 

24 (A) data collection and dissemination; 


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1 (B) establishing a school social work work2 force development program; 

3 (C) documenting the success of school so4 cial work methods on a national level; and 

5 (D) conducting other activities determined 

6 appropriate by the Secretary. 

7 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

8 (1) ESEA TERMS.—Except as otherwise pro9 vided, any term used in this section that is defined 

10 in section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary 

11 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801) shall have 

12 the meaning given that term in such section. 

13 (2) SCHOOL SOCIAL WORKER.—The term 

14 ‘‘school social worker’’ has the meaning given the 

15 term in section 4645(h) of the Elementary and Sec16 ondary Education Act of 1965, as added by section 

17 2(b). 

Æ 


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