Washington Awarded Millions in New Grants to Support Safe Schools
The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) has been awarded two large federal grants to support building safe and positive school climates in Washington schools.
The School Climate Transformation Grant program will provide Washington state with $3.75 million over the next five years to build capacity for broad-scale implementation of evidence-based practices related to creating positive school and classroom climates.
The STOP School Violence Threat Assessment and Technology Report Program grant will provide funds to assist in developing and supporting school- and community-based threat assessment teams aimed at reducing school violence.
School Climate Transformation grant funding will be used to provide ongoing training, coaching, technical assistance, and evaluation to district and school leadership teams implementing Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS). Successful implementation of PBIS has been shown to reduce major disciplinary infractions, antisocial behavior, and substance abuse, and improve students’ academic achievement and perception of school climate.
This funding will also help OSPI support the Washington State Interagency Opioid Response Plan, a joint project between dozens of state agencies, academic institutions, local entities, and federal and tribal partners aimed at addressing the opioid crisis. Grant funds will be used to deliver content on opioid prevention, evidence-based intervention strategies, and the integration of school mental health services into a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) framework and evaluate the impact. MTSS is a service delivery framework focused on prevention and problem solving for all students. An integrated MTSS connects all of the academic and non-academic interventions, supports, and services available in schools and communities to support instruction and eliminate barriers to learning and teaching.
The STOP School Violence Threat Assessment and Technology Report Program grant expands upon a legislation-directed pilot program for threat assessment development at all nine of the state’s educational service districts (ESDs). This expansion will build on the evidence-based Salem-Keizer Threat Assessment System. This system assesses behavior, threat level, level of required supervision, and intensity of intervention needed when a situation involves one or more students and creates a concern for violence. Assessing school violence threats in both the school and community allows for collaboration in addressing students’ needs and keeping schools safe.
In 2018, parents and guardians of students in Washington’s K–12 schools rated school safety and student support services (such as counseling, advising, mental health) as their top priority in a survey of more than 30,000 Washingtonians. Alongside these new grants, OSPI’s 2019–21 budget proposal includes funding for mental health and school safety.
