New York City Faces Record High Youth Mental Health Crisis: Comptroller Lander’s Report

New York, NY — Under resourced New York City Public Schools are facing a growing youth mental health crisis, according to a new report from New York City Comptroller Brad Lander. With close to 40% of New York City high school students reporting persistent sadness or hopelessness, Comptroller Lander’s report finds that fragmented funding, severe workforce shortages, and uneven access to care prevent the New York City Public Schools from adequately addressing this public health emergency. 

“After decades of underinvestment in our schools, a global pandemic, and now unprecedented social upheaval, our city’s young people are left facing the direct impact all at once,” said Comptroller Brad Lander. “A city that invests in young people’s mental health is a city securing its future.” 

The report, leveraging data analysis and stakeholder interviews, reveals that New York Public School students are 21 times more likely to seek mental health support at school than at a community clinic. Yet the system is failing to meet this demand: over 70% of schools do not meet national standards for social worker staffing, and 53% fall short for guidance counselors. Moreover, for many students of color, an estimated 88,000 English Language Learners students (ELLs) attend schools with no bilingual mental health staff member at all. 

Key Findings from the Report: 

• Severe Staffing Shortfalls: To meet national standards and address the growing need, the DOE would need to hire approximately 2,137 additional social workers and 1,220 guidance counselors, at an estimated annual cost of $402–$426 million. 

• Inequitable Access: School-Based Health Centers (SBHCs)—the preferred, discreet model identified by students and administrators—are chronically underfunded. Fully funding existing SBHCs and expanding them to all large high schools would require an additional $40.3 million annually. 

• Systemic Fragmentation: The DOE has not centralized or digitized its records to track mental health referrals or services; instead, the DOE relies on paper notes and spreadsheets which leaves students at risk. 

• Financial Opacity: To date, there is no unified tracking on school-based mental health, as funding is buried in broad budget lines.  

• Understaffed, Underserved: 53% of NYC schools do not meet minimum guidance counselor ratios. The City is roughly 18% below the national standard for school psychologists (1:250), with an average of one psychologist for every 574 students. 

A Roadmap for Action: Core Recommendations 

The report outlines a multi-pronged strategy to build a sustainable, equitable mental health infrastructure: 

• Integrate Mental Health into School Framework: DOE should Implement universal mental health screenings and embed Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) into daily advisory periods. 

• Create a Plan to Meet Staffing Standards: City Hall to establish a cross-agency working group to develop a phased, fiscally responsible hiring roadmap for mental health professionals. 

• Stabilize and Expand School-Based Health Centers and Mental Health Continuum: The DOE should commit funding to fully support existing SBHCs and expand to 75 additional large high schools with a clear process for expansion that prioritizes high-needs schools. Baseline finding for the City’s Mental Health Continuum, that supports many of the City’s School Based Mental Health Centers and additional mental health supports. 

• Diversify and Grow the Workforce:  While State certification rules prevent the DOE from directly employing certain licensed mental health professionals, the agency has, in principle, far greater flexibility to bring these providers into schools through its contracts and vendor partnerships. DOE should expand and update upcoming contracts with community-based organizations to include a broader range of licensed and non-clinical mental health professionals excluded from current DOE hiring structures. Build career pipelines throughout high school and mental health related graduate programs. 

• Implement a Digital Case Management System: The DOE should expedite the rollout of a secure, system-wide platform to track referrals, services, and outcomes. 

• Ensure Transparent Spending: City Hall should develop a public reporting framework to track all mental health-related spending across the DOE. 

“We are failing to connect tens of thousands of students to the care they need, with potentially devastating consequences,” Comptroller Lander continued. “This is a solvable crisis, but it requires treating student mental health as a real policy priority. Every dollar invested in early intervention saves significantly more in the long term. We have solutions that work; what we lack is the coordinated will and investment to bring them to every student. Our children’s well-being and academic success depend on it.” 

“We are grateful for Comptroller Lander’s tireless advocacy on behalf of the wellbeing of all young New Yorkers in our public schools,”  said Martín Urbach, The Circle Keepers. Our children face systemic barriers—poverty, racism, classism, ableism—that create what Mayorga & Picower (2014) describe as a hydra-like set of challenges, where addressing one obstacle often gives rise to others. These barriers continue to limit students’ access to the mental health supports they need and deserve. It is unacceptable that in one of the nation’s wealthiest cities, students still cannot reach counselors when they need them and schools cannot provide these services as part of their daily framework. NYC students deserve culturally responsive mental health care delivered by professionals who reflect their communities, and administrators deserve transparent funding to sustain these services. This report’s multi-faceted approach moves us closer to the kinds of schools all New Yorkers deserve; healing-centered, truly integrated, and fully funded public schools. A+!” 

“Countless young people are struggling with mental health challenges, and our schools can play a critical role in identifying and meeting their needs,” said Maria Odom, Executive Director, Advocates for Children of New York. Yet too often, AFC hears from families of students who have been unable to access the behavioral and mental health services they need to learn and succeed in school and are inappropriately disciplined and excluded from their school communities. We thank the Comptroller’s Office for highlighting these inequities in access and urge the incoming administration to ensure that every school has a school-based mental health clinic or a partnership with a community-based provider that can provide expedited referrals and support for students who need it.”

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