Increasing Access to Mental Health in Schools Act

This bill creates programs to increase the number of school-based mental health services providers in low-income school districts. It authorizes grants to partnerships between graduate schools and low-income school districts to train, place, and retain counselors, social workers, and psychologists. It also establishes a student loan repayment program for providers who work in low-income districts for five years, and requires a study on how to identify regions with shortages of such providers.

Sec. 2, Definitions: Defines key terms including "low-income local educational agency" (a district where at least 20% of students are from low-income families and which has ratios of counselors, psychologists, and social workers at or below specified levels), "eligible graduate institution" (a college offering accredited graduate programs in school psychology, counseling, social work, or other school-based mental health fields), and "eligible partnership" (a partnership between one or more low-income districts and one or more eligible graduate institutions).

Sec. 3, Grant program: Authorizes the Secretary of Education to award competitive 5-year grants (renewable) to eligible partnerships to run pipeline programs. Grants may be used for administrative costs of placing graduate students in low-income schools, paying salaries of recent graduates for up to three years, recruiting diverse students, hiring faculty, and developing coursework. Priority is given to partnerships in five different states and those serving schools with higher numbers of low-income or low-achieving students.

Sec. 4, Student loan repayment: Requires the Secretary to create a program repaying federal student loans for school-based mental health providers employed by low-income districts. Providers must agree to five consecutive years of employment. The government pays one-fifth of principal and interest for each of the first four years and the remainder in the fifth year, up to $200,000 total. Failure to complete all five years does not require repayment of amounts already received.

Sec. 5, Future designation study: Directs the Secretary to study and report to Congress within two years on a formula to identify regions with shortages of school-based mental health providers, based on factors like child population, poverty rate, education levels, special education students, youth crime, current provider numbers, and military family students.