Turn student support into sustainable funding
TrustCircle helps districts and states unlock funding and keeps the check-ins, service logs, progress records and reports districts use when they pursue Medicaid, CYBHI, ESSA and state funding.
What TrustCircle keeps
The records behind your funding plan
- Tier 2 and Tier 3 service logs, kept as the work happens
- Student dashboards and progress over time
- Progress tracking and outcome reports
- Documentation ready for your billing team
- A clearer view of which funding sources fit
How districts fund prevention
Medicaid, CYBHI, ESSA and state money: the four sources that come up most often when districts plan prevention and well-being work. Here’s what each one covers, what it doesn’t, and where to look in your state.
Four sources, each with its own rules.
In this guide
Last checked October 14, 2026 against CMS, Medicaid.gov, California DHCS and US Department of Education sources, linked in each section.
This guide explains public funding options. It isn’t legal, billing or reimbursement advice, and it doesn’t say any source will pay for TrustCircle. Check with your state Medicaid agency, state education agency and district counsel.
Funding pays for services and staff time. Rules decide which.
- What it covers
- The federal and state sources districts use for prevention, early support and Tier 2/3 services, with the official page for each.
- What it isn’t
- A billing manual, or a promise that any source pays for any product. Eligibility depends on your state, your plan and who delivers the service.
- Where TrustCircle stands
- TrustCircle is prevention and well-being infrastructure for the daily check-in and the follow-through after it. It keeps the service logs and documentation districts need when they bill Medicaid or the CYBHI fee schedule; the claim itself goes through your district’s billing process. No district bills through TrustCircle today, and whether a source applies depends on your state and your plan. In a demo, we walk through which sources your district already uses and where the work fits.
Counselor or principal? See what changes for support staff, then share this guide with your director.
What support staff seeThe work the
funding is for.
The rest of this guide covers what pays for the staff time and services around it.
Students
Check in privately
2–3 minutes of class time, nothing else for teachers
Support staff
See who may need attention
A short list each morning, with the reason
Support staff
Act early, and note it
A conversation, a call home, a check‑in
Your district
Carry it into Tier 2/3
Service plans on your data feeds, set up on request
Medicaid can pay for school health services beyond IEPs, where your state plan allows
Medicaid is the largest federal source for school health services. What your district can claim depends on your state’s Medicaid plan.
Who does what in a school Medicaid claim
School staff
Deliver a service the state plan covers
TrustCircle
Keeps the session log and documentation
Your district
Submits the claim through its own billing process
State Medicaid
Pays under the state plan, if the service qualifies
No district bills through TrustCircle today.
What changed for schools
Dec. 2014
The “free care” rule changed.
In December 2014, CMS withdrew its earlier “free care” policy. Medicaid can now pay for covered services to enrolled students even when the school offers the same service free to every student.
May 2023
Not only IEP students.
The 2023 guide confirms Medicaid-covered services can reach any Medicaid-enrolled student at school, not only students with an IEP or 504 plan, where the state plan allows it.
Your state
Your state decides.
Each state sets which services, which providers and which billing methods count. Some states have amended their Medicaid plans to cover more students; others haven’t. Start with your state Medicaid agency’s school-based services program.
California sets what health plans pay schools for behavioral health care
The Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative (CYBHI) created a statewide fee schedule. It’s run by the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) and the Department of Managed Health Care.
How the fee schedule works
- Which students
- Students under 26 enrolled in a participating plan, with no cost to families.
- Who can bill
- Participating local education agencies and their school-linked providers, including Pupil Personnel Services credentialed staff and Certified Wellness Coaches. Districts join in cohorts approved by DHCS.
- Who pays
- Medi-Cal managed care plans and commercial health plans and insurers pay the state-set rates for covered services, whichever plan the student has.
- Timeline
- The fee schedule was published in December 2023; the first cohort of districts began onboarding in January 2024.
Three ESSA titles your district already receives can fund well-being work
Each one comes with its own plan and its own rules. The use has to trace back to your needs assessment.
Title IV-A requires a parent’s prior written, informed consent before a student takes part in a mental health assessment or service it funds. Ask your Title IV coordinator how this applies to your plan.
Three titles, one needs assessment
- Title I, Part A
- Schoolwide programs may fund counseling, school-based mental health programs and specialized instructional support services, when the schoolwide plan names the need.
- Title II, Part A
- May fund training for school staff on recognizing students who may need mental health support and referring them, and on partnerships with community mental health providers.
- Title IV, Part A
- “Safe and healthy students” includes school-based mental health services and MTSS. Districts receiving $30,000 or more must spend at least 20% of their allocation on this area.
Sources: ESEA Title I, Part A (§1114) · Schoolwide guidance, 2016 · ESEA Title II, Part A (§2103) · ESEA Title IV (§4001, §4106, §4108) · Title IV-A guidance, 2016
State money moves every budget cycle. Here’s where to look.
States fund school mental health through grants, budget set-asides and Medicaid choices of their own. Rather than list fifty states that change each year, we point you to the four offices that know.
Who to call in your state
Your state education agency
The office for school mental health, student wellness or MTSS. It runs state grants and administers your ESSA Title funds.
Your state Medicaid agency
Its school-based services program, and whether the state has expanded coverage beyond IEP services.
Your regional service agency
ESUs, BOCES, ESCs and county offices often hold grants or run shared services across districts.
Your state’s budget
Line items and set-asides for school mental health or student well-being, usually announced with the state budget.
Braid sources into one plan, and keep each one’s books separate
Braiding means using several sources for one program while tracking each source’s spending and rules on its own. A common pattern: ESSA funds for prevention and staff training, Medicaid or CYBHI for services delivered by qualified providers, and state grants to fill the gaps. Districts can also pool funds: some Nebraska districts have combined Title IV-A money in a consortium to share mental health services across a region.
Source: US Department of Education, Sustaining School-Based Mental Health Services, 2024
How the plan comes together
- DistrictStart from your needs assessmentTitle I and IV-A plans already require one
- DistrictMatch each piece of work to a sourceServices, training, prevention
- District + stateBraid sources, track each dollarEach source tracked on its own
- BoardReport what changedOutcomes, not just spend
Bring your funding plan to the demo
We’ll walk through the check-in and follow-through, and which sources your district already uses for this work.
Prevention plan · 2026–27
- Staff trainingTitle II-A
- Prevention program, Grades 6–8Title IV-A
- Counseling sessionsMedicaid (state plan)
- Wellness coach, Grade 9State grant
Each row reports to its own source.
Want the evidence next?What Hawaiʻi staff say, and the research