Seattle City Council halves youth mental health services budget amid deficit
(The Center Square) – The Seattle City Council rejected City Councilmember Tammy Morales’ attempt to increase funding for youth mental health services from $10 million to $20 million as part of the 2024 supplemental budget.
The 2024 budget appropriated $20 million to the Seattle Department of Education and Early Learning solely to provide mental health services and student safety interventions, such as proactive mental health screening, telehealth therapy, and in-person therapy for youth. The funding stems from the JumpStart Payroll Expense Tax Fund.
Last year, the city approved $20 million per year to fund mental health services in Seattle’s schools. However, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell proposed a funding allocation of up to $10 million as part of the 2024 supplemental budget last June.
Out of the $10 million, $2.4 would go toward initial telehealth services and $2 million would go toward violence prevention. Additional funding would be used to support scaling programs based on capacity and feasibility.
Morales said she heard from the city executive’s office that it was unable to implement the full funding towards clinical and mental health services, including in-person therapists at schools. She also acknowledged that there is also a national shortage of these kinds of specialized workers.
The $10 million in savings will help the city as it works to address a $260 million budget deficit in 2025, but Morales does not think cuts should come from services intended to help Seattle youth.
“We all know that we have a huge budget crisis in front of us and we’re going to have some hard conversations starting next month about how we address that challenge,” Morales said in a city council meeting on Tuesday. “But taking the money that was promised to this group of people and these community members in order to solve that problem is not fair and it’s not just.”
The Center Square previously reported on a presentation by the Seattle Department of Education and Early Learning indicating slight improvements in youth mental health resulting from $4.5 million for the expansion of student mental health services.
According to the data, the percentage of eighth- and 10th-graders experiencing depressive feelings in King County spiked at 35% in 2021. The percentage dropped below 25% in 2023.
Morales’ amendment to Council Bill 120812 was rejected by a 4-5 vote.
Council Bill 120812, which changes appropriations to various departments and funds in the city budget, was passed with Morales being the sole vote in opposition.
