{"id":279305,"date":"2026-04-21T23:10:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T23:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/279305\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T23:10:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T23:10:08","slug":"fusd-may-cut-mental-health-staff-after-post-covid-increase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/279305\/","title":{"rendered":"FUSD may cut mental health staff after post-COVID increase"},"content":{"rendered":"

To help mitigate a growing budget deficit<\/a>, Fresno Unified is considering making cuts to its number of mental health specialists, which saw significant growth following the pandemic.<\/p>\n

The potential updates were shared as part of the district\u2019s budget development during a meeting last month. Fresno Unified is proposing to remove 27 mental health staffers who work directly with students, including seven counselors, along with 14 child welfare and attendance specialists.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are reductions across the district, including staff who provide mental health support. Some of these positions are being sunset as they were one-time-funded positions through COVID relief funds,\u201d said A.J. Kato, a spokesperson for the district.<\/p>\n

Decisions about staff layoffs won\u2019t be finalized until the board approved next year\u2019s fiscal budget.<\/p>\n

The proposed cuts come as the district seeks to address its projected budget deficit, which has ballooned to $88 million due to higher fill rates for special education and also rising transportation costs. Amid the proposed staffing reductions, Fresno Unified is suggesting to add 12 student-facing mental health roles, including three behavior intervention specialists.<\/p>\n

From 2020 to 2025, the number of mental health professionals working at Fresno Unified sites jumped from to 531 from 345 \u2014 a 53% increase.<\/p>\n

The most pronounced increase was in the district\u2019s number of counselors, which jumped to 161 from 102, or by 57%.<\/p>\n

The district also increased its number of social workers and school psychologists by 72% and 40%, respectively, over the past five school years.<\/p>\n

Despite any upcoming shifts in mental health staffing, the district says its commitments are unchanging.<\/p>\n

The district also is hoping to gain revenue through special grants from the California Children and Youth Behavioral Initiative, a state effort designed to support young Californians\u2019 access to mental health services. That support might include paying schools<\/a> for providing services, according to the state Department of Health Care Services,\u201d Kato said.<\/p>\n

In February, the district sent layoff notices<\/a> to 274 staff members. A month later, trustees approved eliminating 51 additional positions and services<\/a> for the 2026-27 school year.<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Nick Fenley<\/a><\/p>\n

The Fresno Bee<\/p>\n

Nick Fenley is a reporter covering education, lawsuits, breaking news and more for The Fresno Bee. He\u2019s originally from the Imperial Valley and has been with The Bee since 2025.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To help mitigate a growing budget deficit, Fresno Unified is considering making cuts to its number of mental…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279306,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-279305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}