Opportunity Overview
The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) School Safety and Security Committee is accepting applications for the 2026-27 School Safety & Mental Health Grants. This is a noncompetitive, formula-based program for eligible Pennsylvania public school entities to improve physical security, behavioral health, or both.
Funding and Deadline
Pennsylvania is providing $138,779,000 through this program and expects approximately 775 awards. School districts receive a $100,000 base allocation plus an additional amount based on 2024-25 Adjusted Average Daily Membership. Intermediate units, area career and technical schools, charter schools, regional charter schools and cyber charter schools receive $70,000, subject to the controlling Appendix A allocation. Applications are due through PCCD Egrants by October 16, 2026 at 11:59 PM; PCCD’s funding announcement does not state a time zone, so applicants should confirm the live Egrants clock and submit early. The project period may run from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2028.
Eligible Applicants
Eligible school entities are Pennsylvania school districts, intermediate units, area career and technical schools, charter schools, regional charter schools and cyber charter schools. Applicants must be in good standing with PCCD and use the PCCD Egrants system, including the required agency registration, users and electronic-signature access.
Behavioral-Health and Telemedicine Uses
The funding announcement expressly allows a broad range of behavioral-health activities. These include hiring or contracting licensed counselors, social workers, school psychologists and other health personnel; trauma-informed counseling; mental-health first aid; family and peer support; coordination with local and county mental-health services; and evidence-based suicide, self-harm, anxiety and depression identification and response.
Of particular importance to Atlas, eligible activity 24 expressly permits expanding telemedicine delivery of school-based mental-health services, including equipment. Eligible activity 30 also allows online programs, educational materials and applications that provide supplemental mental-health services, including peer support, self-guided evidence-based therapeutic tools and clinical interactions.
September 8 PCCD Q&A Clarifications
PCCD’s September 8, 2026 Q&A materially strengthens the implementation picture for school-health applicants:
- Contracted behavioral-health services are expressly allowable.
- An additional school nurse may be funded when the request supplements existing spending and the application explains the behavioral-health connection between school nursing services and student health.
- Intermediate units may build programs serving multiple districts, including shared social workers, licensed professional counselors, or training programs, when the activities are otherwise eligible and properly justified.
- AED units, supplies, and CPR/AED training may be requested under Activity 33 for eligible public school entities.
- Schools may perform their own physical-security or behavioral-health self-assessment, but requests outside Level 1 when Level 1 gaps remain may require an assessment from an approved PCCD assessor or the Pennsylvania State Police RVAT team.
- Applicants are not required to request their full Appendix A allocation, although the amount ultimately awarded becomes the school entity’s grant amount.
Baseline-Criteria Gate
PCCD updated its physical-security and behavioral-health Baseline Criteria in June 2026. A school entity that has not met all applicable Level 1 criteria generally must first use grant funds to close qualifying Level 1 gaps before funding other higher-level eligible activities in that category, or document how other resources are being used to satisfy those Level 1 requirements. Physical-security and behavioral-health baseline tracks are considered separately, so a gap on one side does not automatically prevent otherwise eligible spending on the other.
Atlas Analysis
Atlas Opportunity Score: 98/100. This is one of the strongest current school-health funding pathways in Pennsylvania because the funding is formula-based rather than competitive, the statewide pool is substantial, and the statute explicitly supports school-based mental-health staffing, partnerships, clinical interactions, telemedicine delivery, contracted behavioral-health services, and additional school nursing when properly tied to behavioral-health needs.
N9+ Direct Vendor Fit: 86/100. The explicit allowance for telemedicine delivery of school-based mental-health services, including equipment, creates a credible technology pathway. The September 8 Q&A adds confidence that schools can combine technology with contracted behavioral-health services, multi-district service models through IUs, and supplemental school-health staffing. However, the program is not a general remote-physical-exam procurement: any N9+ deployment must be tied to a defensible school-based mental-health service model and the applicant’s approved behavioral-health plan.
Application Readiness
School entities should confirm their Appendix A allocation, PCCD good standing and Egrants access; review the June 2026 Level 1 physical-security and behavioral-health criteria; document existing gaps; select allowable activities; define staffing, service-provider and technology roles; and build a compliant budget. Grant funds may not supplant existing resources, and indirect costs are not eligible under the funding announcement.
Official sources: Pennsylvania PCCD — 2026-27 School Safety & Mental Health Grants Funding Announcement and the September 8, 2026 Funding Announcement Q&A.