Bosley offers amendment to provide trauma counseling in SLPS

Pilot program would help victims of violent gun crime

Rep. LaKeySha Bosley (MHDC)

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — State Rep. LaKeySha Bosley, D-St. Louis, offered an amendment during the budget markup process Thursday to establish a pilot program that provides trauma recovery and behavioral therapy to students in St. Louis Public Schools.

Utilizing American Rescue Plan Act funding, the $2 million pilot program would bolster school counseling services in a district that desperately needs help to fulfill that need in its students.

“These new counselors would be able to directly assist children who experience some of the most psychologically difficult moments of their lives — the death of friends and family to gun violence — in an area with a disproportionately high number of deaths to firearms,” Bosley said. “This program would help students in St. Louis Public Schools be made whole after undergoing extreme trauma.”

Unfortunately, the amendment was voted down on concerns ARPA funds could not be spent on such a pilot program. However, the guidelines for ARPA funding from the U.S. Department of the Treasury state clearly that funds can be used for “preventing and responding to violence,” including “referrals to trauma recovery services for victims of crime.”

Another concern raised by some committee members argued the $2 million line item could represent duplicitous funding. However, other federal funds, including $2 million for a 3D game-based learning platform, are included in the budget for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

“I look forward to working on this important issue over the weekend to alleviate anyone’s misconceptions with this program to get this pilot program into the budget on the House floor,” Bosley said.