San Juan County’s school districts are, as expected, the beneficiaries of the newly created countywide mental-health tax.

In a unanimous decision, the County Council on Sept. 1 agreed to provide Lopez, Orcas and San Juan Island school districts a share of the $250,000 that the tax is expected to generate over this year and the next in order to help each district finance its own brand of school-based mental health services. The revenue will allow each district to create new services or pay to expand existing programs under a two-year contract with the county.

The allocations, pending contract approval, are: Lopez: $59,500, Orcas: $85,500, and San Juan: $105,000.

Enacted by the council in December, the 1/10th of 1-percent increase in the local sales-tax rate went into effect beginning in April. San Juan is one of 10 counties in Washington state that have implemented the so-called mental health tax since it was authorized by the Legislature about four years ago. It equals a penny on every $10 spent, is expected to generate about $350,000 a year, and it applies countywide and in the town of Friday Harbor too. (Groceries ad prescription medication are exempt).

Though no doubt welcomed by the cash-strapped public school districts, the allocations are bittersweet nonetheless. All three districts had hoped to fund a Primary Intervention Program, or a service that’s similarly geared, with mental-health tax funds this school year. All three applied for funding for a P.I.P or P.I.P.-like program, and all were rejected.

The allocations approved by the council were based on recommendations by the Human Services Advisory Board and county Health and Community Services staff. The advisory board noted, in its recommendation, state law requires the tax be used on new programs or to expand existing ones, and that it prohibits using it to supplement an existing at status quo.

Budget constraints prompted San Juan school officials earlier this year to eliminate P.I.P for the 2009/10 school year.

A fixture for 25 years at San Juan Island School District, budget constraints prompted district officials to put P.I.P on the shelf for the 2009/10 school year. Each year, the program helps about 80 mostly elementary school students deal with issues such as self-esteem, behavior and building healthy relationship.

Newly hired San Juan district Superintendent Walt Wegener said the district remains committed to the program, but that it won’t be resurrected until it can be adequately funded. He noted that funding for P.I.P is included on the list of the district’s “critical needs.” Wegener’s confident that a stable source of funding will materialize eventually. It’s a matter of when, he said.