Budgeting for School-Based Mental Health Community of Practice
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School districts across the U.S. faced a surge in student mental health needs, but leaders lacked clear, sustainable strategies for allocating funds. Federal COVID relief dollars created temporary opportunities, but without guidance, many districts risked short-term fixes that wouldn’t last. Delivering effective school-based mental health at scale requires more than tools — it requires shared practice, continuous improvement, and operational know-how. Opportunity Labs co-led a national Community of Practice (CoP) to connect districts, surface field evidence, and accelerate implementation of promising strategies.
Districts were trying similar interventions (tele-therapy hubs, clinician hiring, SEL curricula) in isolation and re-learning the same lessons.
Implementation barriers — procurement, billing, clinician onboarding, family engagement — were local but repeatable.
There was no centralized place where practitioners could test solutions, share playbooks, and get peer coaching.
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Strategic Leadership & Program Design in School Mental Health
Partnered with state leaders, foundations, and school finance experts to co-design equitable budgeting frameworks tailored to sustaining student mental health supports.
Co-created a practical planning guide and toolkit enabling school districts to effectively fund and scale mental health initiatives.
Launched a national Community of Practice (CoP) for district leaders to share strategies, troubleshoot implementation challenges, and surface scalable solutions.
Facilitated cross-sector collaboration between education, healthcare, and philanthropy to align funding streams and service delivery models.
Program Design Highlights
1. Curated Cohort Selection
Selected a diverse mix of districts (urban, suburban, rural) to foster cross-context learning and innovation.
Prioritized district teams with both programmatic and financial decision-making authority to drive real-time action.
2. Low-Friction Learning Cycles
Designed monthly learning sprints focused on actionable topics (e.g., Medicaid billing, partnerships with providers, referral workflows).
Required small, rapid experiments between sessions, documented via one-page “What We Learned” briefs to build shared accountability.
3. Operational Scaffolding for Members
Developed onboarding guides, meeting templates, and a centralized resource library.
Provided office hours and peer coaching to support district-led pilots and local adaptation.
4. Measurement & Knowledge Capture
Created streamlined reporting tools to track key operational metrics (e.g., clinician hiring timelines, number of students served, billing efficiency).
Synthesized learnings into monthly field briefs and a living playbook of tested, replicable practices.
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Equipped districts with concrete budgeting models for long-term student mental health investments.
Sustained collaboration among district leaders beyond initial funding cycles.
Elevated mental health as a core element of educational strategy, not an add-on.
Influenced philanthropic and state-level approaches to supporting school-based mental health.
Created a replicable model for practice-based CoPs in school health — balancing peer learning with accountability and rapid experimentation.
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Financial strategy is mental health strategy — sustainability depends on smart budgeting.
Peer learning accelerates adoption; leaders trust insights from other practitioners.
Building bridges across sectors (education, health, philanthropy) is critical for systemic change.
Design for action, not just conversation: require small experiments and rapid reporting so learning becomes practice.
Curate the cohort: Diversity (size, context, role mix) creates richer exchanges; include people who have leadership access.
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Director, Opportunity Labs (2024)
Co-designed the CoP structure
Led district selection and onboarding
Built operational workflows (agenda, documentation, coaching)
Created lightweight data and reporting templates to surface what worked