The Long Beach Unified School District will increase the number of positions helping students with social-emotional needs by four this fall, and create another position dedicated to assisting new immigrant students transition to its schools.

The boost in the district’s mental health resources is part of its recently passed $931 million budget for the 2019-20 fiscal year. The five added positions come from an additional $1 million in increased state funding.

The district’s Board of Education on June 19 unanimously approved its annual budget, with expenditures increasing by about 2%. But the district’s revenues, according to budget documents, are expected to drop by approximately the same percentage, to $926 million.

If that holds, the district would have a structural deficit, requiring one-time funds and other sources — such as reserves — to balance the budget.

Robert Tagorda — the school district’s director of Equity, Access and College & Career Readiness — said at the board meeting last month that the budget process involved input from thousands of community members over the past year. Their suggestions, while working with district staff, led to the recommendations for the five positions.

The one new position created in the budget will act as a liaison for recent immigrants, helping connect those students and their parents with available resources, such as community agencies and nonprofits. For the next year, the liaison will serve mostly high school students, because many of the district’s newcomers are 14-to-16 years old.

The position will meet “a new need that has risen because of some things that are happening on the political scene, as well as impacting our schools,” Superintendent Chris Steinhauser said at the board meeting. “We are getting some students who are newcomers to our community, who are coming to us mainly from Central America.”

Many of these new students come with trauma, food insecurity and other issues, he added. It’s unknown how many recent immigrant students the district will get, Steinhauser said, but within the last two weeks, one school has received five new students.

“And with the statement by our president of potential increases on individuals being deported,” Steinhauser added, referring to Donald Trump’s statement last month about immigration enforcement deporting millions of undocumented immigrants, “this could have massive ramifications for our schools.”

Long Beach school board member Juan Benitez commended the new position.

“Our immigrant communities have been targeted, not just here locally in Long Beach, but across our country,” he said. “So uplifting the importance that schools in our district play to support families I think is super important.”

The additional four full-time staff positions assisting students with social-emotional needs, meanwhile, will work across the district rather than being assigned to specific schools. The additional positions could be counselors, psychologists or other positions, district spokesman Chris Eftychiou said Wednesday, July 3. The district is still working out those details.

The budget also created a $250,000 fund for existing parent committees, such as the district’s English Learner Advisory Committee and the Community Advisory Committee for Students with Special Needs.

The new resources in this year’s budget come more than a year after the school district reached an agreement with parents and community groups over a complaint, filed with the California Department of Education, arguing the district misallocated $41 million in state funding meant for high-need students. Those students are defined as being at risk of education failure, including special-needs students, English language learners, and students who are homeless or in foster care.