Category: News

Schools Must Be Aware of Mental Well-Being of Students in Military Families (August 12, 2026)

Students, particularly those adolescents in military families face, unique issues, such as frequent moves and parental deployments, that can present barriers to learning. In fact, a survey released on August 10, 2026 by the National Military Family Association (NMFA) shows 22% of teens in military families reported low mental well-being, nearly 30% reported thoughts of self-harm within the previous six months, and 16% said they had harmed themselves at least once during that time period. Also, about 2% of the approximately 800 respondents reported making a suicide plan in the prior three months.

In addition, teens living in military families also have faced food insecurity at higher rates than their civilian peers for five consecutive years, according to NMFA’s findings. Slightly over one-third of respondents reported some level of food insecurity in the previous month, which exceeds the 20% rate reported in 2023 for military families overall.

For more from K-12 Dive, click here.

Kids Online Safety Act Clears Key Senate Panel with Bipartisan Support (August 12, 2026)

On August 5, 2026, the U.S. Senate’s Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee advanced four key children’s online safety bills. Those bills now head to the Senate floor for a vote.

One of the bills, the bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), addresses how to best protect youth online, particularly pertaining to social media and artificial intelligence. Pressure has mounted as both concerns and litigation over the mental health risks to children and teens have become areas of great concern. 

The other bills approved for advancement include the Youth AI Privacy Act; the Children’s Health, Advancement, Trust, Boundaries, and Oversight in Technology Act; and the Children’s Artificial Intelligence Toy Safety Act.

For more from K-12 Dive, click here.

Funding Opportunity: PDE Grant to Prioritize School Psychology Interns in High-Need Districts (August 12, 2026)

The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) has been awarded federal School-Based Mental Health Services (SBMHS) grant funding to launch the “Prioritizing Attracting, Preparing, and Retaining School Psychologists” initiative. This program specifically targets the critical shortage of school psychologists in identified high-need and rural districts across the Commonwealth.

Through this grant, students planning to intern in these priority districts for the upcoming academic year may be eligible for a supplemental stipend. Applications for stipends will be processed based on districts indicating they have secured a school psychology intern for the upcoming school year.
Key Program Details:
• Selective Funding: Awards are not guaranteed. Applications will be reviewed using a competitive rubric, with funding assigned to the highest-scoring districts first until funds are exhausted. We are currently accepting applications on a rolling basis until funding has been exhausted.
• District Eligibility: Only interns placed in districts on the identified eligible list (meeting specific high-need criteria) are eligible for this additional funding. Districts not on this list are ineligible for these specific supplemental funds.


Application Process
Eligible districts who have an intern can complete the Rolling Enrollment: Prioritizing Attracting, Preparing, and Retaining School Psychologists in High-Needs LEAs application<https://forms.cloud.microsoft/g/2fY9jWZUGu>.

Quick Q&A
Which districts are eligible for this funding? Eligibility is limited to high-need and rural Local Education Agencies (LEAs).
How is “High-Need” defined? Eligible districts are defined as those with high student-to-school psychologist staffing ratios and high rates of economic disadvantage. This federal grant also provides additional rubric points for districts identified as rural, reflecting the rural focus of the program. Funding allocation prioritizes districts with the highest psychologist-to-student ratios (indicating significant staffing shortages) and higher percentages of students identified as economically disadvantaged.
How much funding do interns receive? Interns from in-state graduate programs receive $25,000 and are encouraged to apply for the PA HELPS grant, which can bring the total internship funding to $50,000. Interns from out-of-state programs receive $30,000 to supplement the Out-of-State School Psychologist (OOSP) grant through BSE, also bringing the total funding to approximately $50,000.
Who is eligible to apply? Interns from both in-state and out-of-state graduate programs are eligible if they are placed in an identified high-need or rural Pennsylvania LEA.
When we districts receive notification regarding funding decision? Funding determinations will be made by June 15, 2026, and all districts who have applied will be receive written notification of decision.
What are the requirements for recipients? Participants must agree to complete their entire internship in an identified eligible district.
Are there other benefits besides the stipend? Yes. The grant covers Praxis exam fees ($156) and provides specialized PREPaRE Workshop 2 training and materials at no cost to the intern and their supervisor.
When are payments disbursed? Supplemental payments are issued in two installments to the district: one in December and one in May of the internship year.
What is required of the district? Districts must agree that all grant funding will be provided directly to the intern. Districts must also allow the intern and their supervisor to attend training provided by the PaTTAN/PDE team, including PREPaRE training, which helps strengthen the capacity of both the intern and the supervisor. In addition, districts must provide quality supervision, host site visits, and complete an end-of-year survey.

Contacts
Questions on the grant can be directed to either contact below:
Dr. Angela McMasters (amcmasters@pattanpgh.net) – Program Manager
Dr. Dana Milakovic (damilakovi@pa.gov) – Program Director

Click here to view the SBMH List by IU.

HHS Ends Teen Pregnancy Grant Program for Most Recipients, Nine Phila Schools Affected, Lawsuits Are Filed (August 11, 2026)

As reported by K-12 Dive, a federal grant program aimed at reducing teen pregnancy rates has faced sudden changes this summer under the Trump administration — including the abrupt cancellation of 53 of the 66 current grants in late June. Established by Congress in 2010, the bipartisan Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program (TPP) funds about $101 million in grants annually to improve the sexual and reproductive health outcomes of youth by using evidence-based education programs. The program’s goal is to help teens make healthy decisions that, in turn, reduce risky sexual behaviors and decrease sexually transmitted infections and unintended teen pregnancy. Senators have reported that teen birth rates have declined over the past 35 years.

However, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) informed AccessMatters, a nonprofit public health organization in Philadelphia, that its TPP grant was canceled on June 26. The AccessMatters’ five-year grant had two years of funding remaining, amounting to a total loss of $2.4 million. Those funds provided programming for nine traditional public and charter schools in Philadelphia reaching over 2,200 youth and there were plans to expand its programming to more schools in the city before the grant cancellation notice was received. The funds were used to facilitate lessons in high schools regarding medically accurate information regarding HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. The curriculum, known as “Be Proud, Be Responsible,” also taught students about pregnancy prevention, hygiene, healthy relationship communication and consent.

Meanwhile, a July lawsuit was filed against HHS by two local governments, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, and the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States. The plaintiffs filed the case in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, asking it to vacate implementation of the policy changes to TPP and to administer the existing grants as required by federal law. 

The complaint alleges that days before HHS canceled most of the existing TPP grants on June 26, 2026, the agency released two new Notices of Funding Opportunity, which said that TPP funds must: 

  • Include “abstinence-only ‘sexual risk avoidance’” education. 
  • Require awardees to “align” with agency priorities prohibiting “gender ideology” and diversity, equity and inclusion practices.
  • Restrict discussion of teen sexual activity despite the program’s statutory mandate to reduce teen pregnancy using “medically accurate” and “age appropriate” interventions.

For more from K-12 Dive, click here.

CDC Issues Guidance for Schools to Prepare for Measles as the New School Year Begins (August 11, 2026)

As cases climb higher than they’ve been in decades, health experts including several national, state, and local organizations and health departments are providing are providing guidance regarding best practices and recommendations for schools. For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offers a checklist for how K-12 schools can respond when a student or employee exhibits measles symptoms.