School systems across the United States have struggled to find workers to deal with students’ mental health needs. Mental health problems among students have worsened since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Chalkbeat found that among 18 of the country’s largest school districts, 12 started the school year this autumn with fewer counselors or psychologists than they had in the fall of 2019. As a result, many school mental health professionals must work with a high number of cases that go beyond recommended limits, experts say. Many students are having to wait for urgently needed help. Some of the extra need for support has been taken by social workers. The number of social workers has grown by nearly 50 percent since before the pandemic, national data shows. But social workers have different training from other mental health professionals and have other responsibilities, too. School districts included in the research serve a combined 3 million students. They started the year with nearly 1,000 unfilled mental health positions. The Chalkbeat data is based on school staffing data received through open records requests. The 31 largest districts in the U.S. were questioned, but some did not measure or provide data.