We Are in a Battle for the Future of Public Education

Right now, Medicaid funds a significant portion of my work. For students with individualized education programs (IEPs), I conduct evaluations to determine eligibility for social work services. If a student qualifies, the time I spend assessing, planning and providing therapy can be reimbursed through Medicaid. This isn’t just about social work — Medicaid also funds school-based nursing, speech therapy and services for students with disabilities.

Imagine a child who relies on a GI tube for nutrition, a student struggling to communicate without speech therapy or a teenager battling severe anxiety or depression. Without Medicaid reimbursement, these services could disappear. The impact would be devastating — not just for individual students, but for entire school communities.

Today, the need for mental health support in schools has never been greater. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, nearly 20 percent of high school students experience serious thoughts of suicide and 9 percent have attempted suicide. When a student expresses suicidal ideation — when they say they don’t want to live or feel hopeless — I step in. I provide crisis intervention, safety planning and ongoing support. And again, Medicaid helps fund that work.

Yet, despite the overwhelming demand, CPS already doesn’t have enough social workers. If Medicaid funding disappears, the district will struggle to afford even the minimal support we currently provide. And it’s not just students with IEPs — CPS has the option to bill Medicaid for general education students who receive social-emotional therapy, but they aren’t fully utilizing this resource. Losing Medicaid entirely would push even more students out of reach of the mental health services they desperately need.

Without enough social workers, who takes on these responsibilities? School counselors? In CPS, elementary school counselors focus on helping students transition to high school, while high school counselors are overwhelmed with attendance, grades and college applications. They aren’t expected to provide intensive mental health support — and they can’t bill Medicaid for services. If social workers are cut, the burden will fall on already overstretched staff, leaving students with fewer and fewer options.

Beyond Medicaid, another looming threat is the potential loss of federal support for education. The students I work with rely on financial aid to pursue higher education. Without access to federal grants and scholarships, college will become an impossible dream for many of them.

The reality in Chicago is stark: Funding is not distributed equally. Schools in wealthier areas receive more resources. Selective enrollment schools get better funding, while neighborhood schools are left struggling. If students in underfunded schools lose access to federal college assistance, the cycle of poverty will only deepen.

It’s no coincidence that the communities being denied educational opportunities are the same ones historically marginalized by systemic inequities. When higher education is only accessible to the wealthy, power stays concentrated in the hands of those who already have it. This isn’t just about education — it’s about maintaining a system where some people never get the chance to rise.

We are in a battle for the future of public education. Without Medicaid, without federal education funding and without strong protections for students in need, entire communities will be left behind. But I refuse to let that happen without a fight.

This is about more than just numbers on a budget — it’s about the students who walk into my office every day, the young people who rely on us to help them navigate trauma, crisis and uncertainty. They deserve better.

Republished with permission from AFT Voices.