San Rafael City Schools families will be able to access free on-campus counseling this fall billed directly to their health insurers, after the district joined a state program designed to offset the loss of $14.5 million in federal mental health grants across Marin County.
The district is one of three Marin school systems selected for California's Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative, in its second year of operation statewide. The program lets schools bill health insurers directly for mental health services delivered on campus. The Marin County Office of Education will administer the effort locally, the Marin IJ reported.
For families across the district's 11 schools and nearly 7,000 students, the practical upshot: counseling stays free, insurance premiums and deductibles are unaffected, and the district gains a revenue stream that doesn't depend on federal grants or the general fund.
"It helps us invest in the counselors, wellness professionals and services students need without relying solely on short-term grant funding or placing added pressure on our broader budget," Superintendent Carmen Diaz Ghysels told the IJ.
Under the old billing system, schools waited 12 to 18 months for reimbursement. The CYBHI program cuts that to 30 to 90 days. State law requires commercial health plans and Medi-Cal to reimburse schools at published rates for covered behavioral health services provided to students under 26.
What parents need to do
The district said in its June 2026 newsletter that CYBHI consent forms will appear in the Aeries Parent Portal when back-to-school data confirmation launches in August. Parents will be asked to provide health insurance information and consent to billing.
That consent matters. MCOE assistant superintendent Lisa Miller said the amount each district recovers depends on "parent participation in providing health insurance information and consent to bill and share student data to insurance companies."
The budget hole it helps fill
The Trump administration ended a major federal grant program in 2025, costing Marin County schools $14.5 million earmarked for counselors and psychiatrists. The Marin County Office of Education remains in litigation over that funding, Miller told the IJ.
Statewide, the CYBHI program has grown rapidly. As of Aug. 3, 700 school agencies had enrolled, with $19.03 million reimbursed across more than 626,000 claims and 70,171 students served, according to the California Department of Health Care Services.
Miller Creek School District and Novato Unified School District are joining alongside San Rafael City Schools under the MCOE consortium. Other Marin districts can still apply; the state's next cohort application closes Oct. 9.
