Behavioral Health - Program Supervisor

WASHINGTON MANAGEMENT SERVICE

JOB ANNOUNCEMENT

Behavioral Health - Program Supervisor

 

 $82,487.00 - $97,050.00 annually 

Closes September 21, 2026

The Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) seeks to fill the Behavioral Health - Program Supervisor position. This full-time permanent position is based in Olympia, Washington. This position may be eligible for partial to near full-time telework. Telework is a combination of in-building and off-site days. During your onboarding period (first 6 - 8 weeks) you will be required to be in the office 3 days per week. After you’ve completed your onboarding period, you may have the option to work a flexible telework schedule (days of the week to be determined with Supervisor approval). While we’re happy to offer this balance of in-office connections and telework flexibility, this isn’t a fully remote position. We encourage interested candidates to visit the OSPI website to gain insight into our agency.

About OSPI and our initiatives

OSPI is the primary agency charged with overseeing public K–12 education in Washington state. Working with the state's 295 public school districts and 7 state-tribal education compact schools, OSPI allocates funding and provides tools, resources, and technical assistance so every student in Washington is provided a high-quality public education.

At OSPI, we recognize that our employees are the key to the success of the agency. We are committed to our work but value the balance with our personal lives. We demonstrate our commitment to employees by providing an environment that stimulates professional growth and values them for their expertise. OSPI is a great place to work and has several initiatives to help create a great working environment, including:

• We support a healthy work/life balance by offering flexible/alternative work schedules and mobile and telework options. (Depending on job duties and work location.)
• We have an Infant at Work Program that is based on long-term values of newborns and infant-parent bonding. Eligible employees who are new parents or legal guardians can bring their infant (six weeks to six months) when returning to work. (Depending on job duties and work location.)
• We value and are actively involved in promoting diversity, equity and inclusion within OSPI by way of cross-divisional, collaborative committee. The focus of the committee includes employee engagement and education; reinforcing OSPI values; and maximizing the value of diversity and identifying strategies for inclusion.

Vision, Mission, and Values 
Vision: All students prepared for post-secondary pathways, careers, and civic engagement.
 
Mission: Transform K-12 education to a system that is centered on closing opportunity gaps and is characterized by high expectations for all students and educators. We achieve this by developing equity-based policies and supports that empower educators, families, and communities.

Values: Ensuring Equity, Collaboration and Service, Achieving Excellence through Continuous Improvement, Focus on the Whole Child

Equity
 Each student, family, and community possesses strengths and cultural knowledge that benefits their peers, educators, and schools. Ensuring educational equity:

• Goes beyond equality; it requires education leaders to examine the ways current policies and practices result in disparate outcomes for our students of color, students living in poverty, students receiving special education and English Learner services, students who identify as LGBTQ+, and highly mobile student populations.
• Requires education leaders to develop an understanding of historical contexts; engage students, families, and community representatives as partners in decision-making; and actively dismantle systemic barriers, replacing them with policies and practices that ensure all students have access to the instruction and support they need to succeed in our schools.

Overview of SESP Division

The Student Engagement & Special Programs (SESP) Division advances an equitable education system that provides whole-child supports in partnership with communities so that every student is safe, supported, and equipped to thrive and learn. Grounded in a multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS), SESP provides integrated statewide leadership and system supports that respond to the full range of student experiences, reduce barriers to learning, and strengthen attendance, engagement, inclusive learning environments, educational opportunity, and long-term sustainability. The division works through shared practice, strong partnerships, and effective use of data and public resources to drive continuous improvement, fiscal stewardship, and coherent system impact.

Position Overview

This position sits within SESP and reports to the SESP Director of Student Support. It leads the statewide school-based behavioral health portfolio, providing leadership, program oversight, technical assistance, and subject-matter expertise on behavioral health navigation, suicide prevention, and district systems for recognizing and responding to social, emotional, behavioral, and mental health distress.

The role serves as a connecting point across SESP and OSPI, integrating behavioral health with school safety, HIB prevention, attendance, SEL/MTSS, Medicaid, Title IV, and a wide range of other related whole-child initiatives. It strengthens district capacity and statewide alignment by linking OSPI programs, ESD Behavioral Health Navigators, state partners, and community-based behavioral health systems — translating law, policy, funding, evidence, and stakeholder needs into implementation strategy, guidance, training, and sustainable systems.

Core functions include convening internal and external partners; managing key contracts and statewide supports; monitoring implementation, data, and compliance; identifying and mitigating risk; and using field input to drive continuous improvement.

This position is expected to strengthen statewide and regional capacity to support student behavioral health, improve district implementation of behavioral health and suicide-prevention practices, and increase access to consistent, usable technical assistance. It is also expected to improve coordination among OSPI, ESDs, state agencies, and community providers, and to strengthen the alignment of behavioral health within MTSS and related school supports.

Portfolio includes: RCW 28A.320.127, RCW 28A.410.226, RCW 28A.300.288, the statewide Behavioral Health Navigator initiative, statewide suicide-prevention guidance and training, HB 1634 and other potential Washington Thriving implementation, and emerging school behavioral health policy and funding.

Key Responsibilities

Program Leadership

• Serve as the division’s strategic systems-level lead for school-based behavioral health, connecting work across SESP, OSPI, state agencies, ESDs, and statewide partners to align policy, systems, resources, and implementation around shared priorities and outcomes
• Understand, articulate and operationalize behavioral-health-related laws, rules, policies, funding requirements, and agency direction into actionable guidance and implementation supports, including HB 1634
• Facilitate and coordinate the statewide ESD Behavioral Health Navigator network, including monthly convenings and maintenance of the Navigator Playbook
• Maintain statewide youth suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention guidance, supporting implementation of RCW 28A.300.288 and RCW 28A.410.226

Technical Assistance and Capacity Building

• Develop and maintain practical behavioral health guidance, tools, templates, FAQs, timelines, training materials, modules, web resources, and communications for districts, ESDs, and partners
• Design, deliver, and coordinate behavioral health technical assistance, training, and professional learning for districts, ESDs, and statewide partners that includes recognition, initial screening, and response to social, emotional, or behavioral distress
• Respond to behavioral health and suicide-prevention inquiries from districts, families, and community members

Partnership and System Alignment

• Lead, facilitate, staff, or represent OSPI, as assigned, in relevant statewide behavioral health advisory groups, workgroups, interagency meetings, and stakeholder processes, including school behavioral health, youth behavioral health, school safety and well-being, suicide-prevention, and school-based health bodies.
• Build and maintain trusted relationships across OSPI, ESDs, Tribes, DOH, HCA, and community behavioral health partners
• Proactively connect and integrate school-based behavioral health with MTSS, safety, attendance, SEL, and Title IV to support a coherent continuum of care
• Serve as a primary programmatic connection for school behavioral health with the Department of Health, Health Care Authority, ESD/AESD partners, Washington Thriving, community behavioral health providers, and other statewide partners, including coordination of the school behavioral health technical assistance and training framework
• Convene an internal cross-program behavioral health space to reduce duplication and strengthen shared understanding across SESP

Data, Reporting, and Continuous Improvement

• Monitor program implementation, statutory reporting, training participation, and statewide service quality
• Lead district data communications and reporting for behavioral health data collections, including the RCW 28A.320.127 district-plan cycle
• Use data, stakeholder input, and equity analysis to improve program design, technical assistance, and recommendations
• Prepare required reports, dashboards, issue briefs, presentations, and executive summaries

Fiscal and Resource Stewardship

• Manage assigned behavioral health contracts, grants, and appropriations supporting statewide implementation
• Develop and manage subject-matter expert contracts 
• Support development and administration of behavioral health grants or funding opportunities as resources become available, including implementation expectations and monitoring

Required Qualifications:

Required Education, Experience, and Competencies:

• Bachelor’s degree in education, public policy, public administration, public health, social or behavioral sciences, social services, or a closely related field; and at least three (3) years of progressively responsible experience in statewide or large-scale program implementation, systems coordination, policy implementation, technical assistance, grant or public-sector program management, or related work.

OR

• An equivalent combination of education and professional experience totaling seven (7) years that demonstrates progressively increasing responsibility in relevant program leadership, systems coordination, policy implementation, technical assistance, grant administration, or public-sector program management.
• Must reside of in the state of Washington as a condition of employment
• Periodic statewide travel, including travel to districts, ESDs, trainings, coordinator meetings, conferences, interagency meetings, or incident-related activities. 

Additionally:

• Demonstrated knowledge of, or professional experience in, school-based behavioral health, youth behavioral health, suicide prevention, emotional/behavioral distress response, or a closely related behavioral health system sufficient to provide credible statewide guidance and technical assistance.
• Ability to interpret relevant laws, regulations, and policy requirements (e.g., RCW 28A.320.127, RCW 28A.410.226, RCW 28A.300.288) and translate them into accurate, actionable guidance.
• Demonstrated ability to lead and facilitate groups of experienced subject-matter professionals across agencies, districts, ESDs, Tribes, and/or community organizations toward shared decisions and outcomes, without requiring equivalent technical depth in each domain.
• Demonstrated ability to lead complex programs or initiatives from planning through implementation and continuous improvement.
• Demonstrated ability to build effective partnerships among diverse professionals, organizations, and communities.

Desired Qualifications: 

• Experience providing technical assistance, training, facilitation, coaching, or other capacity-building support.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to synthesize complex information for varied audiences.
• Ability to interpret and summarize behavioral health, education, or implementation data to inform program design, reporting, shared measurement, and decision-making.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively with people from a wide range of backgrounds and support equitable, culturally responsive, and inclusive practices, informed by awareness of documented behavioral health disparities affecting LGBTQ+ students, students of color, and Tribal and rural communities.
• Experience exercising sound judgment, professional composure, and appropriate escalation when communicating about sensitive, urgent, or crisis-adjacent behavioral health issues with families, districts, partners, or leadership.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and emerging issues, follow through on commitments, and exercise sound judgment.
• Knowledge of Washington's K-12 education system and the roles of OSPI, ESDs, districts, schools, Tribes, state agencies, and community behavioral health partners.
• Experience with statewide behavioral health advisory committees, interagency workgroups, legislative or policy implementation, proviso/statutory reporting, or similar cross-system bodies.
• Experience operationalizing behavioral health, education, public-health, or human-services requirements into clear guidance, implementation tools, governance documents, or interagency agreements.
• Experience developing scopes of work and managing contracts, grants, procurements, or other public resources through their full lifecycle.
• Experience integrating behavioral health within MTSS or educational systems framework and aligning related prevention, safety, attendance, health, or student-support initiatives.
• Working familiarity with Washington's ESD system, statewide behavioral health partners, universal screening, substance-use prevention, or school Medicaid as they relate to school-based behavioral health.
• Experience developing plain-language guidance, FAQs, website content, trainings, or other public-facing resources on complex or sensitive topics.

Compensation
The annual compensation for the position is $82,487.00 - $97,050.00 per year and depends upon experience, educational background and qualifications. Geographic differentials may be applied based on work location of successful candidate. Washington State offers a generous benefit package including health, dental and life insurance, retirement and an optional deferred compensation program. Please visit Health Care Authority for information regarding health benefits and the Department of Retirement Systems for retirement plan information.  This is a Washington Management Position. This position is not represented by a bargaining unit.

Application Process

Those interested in this position must apply through Careers.wa.gov. Applications must include the following documents in MS Word or PDF format:

• A letter of interest specifically addressing the qualifications listed in this announcement; 
• A current résumé, and; 
• A list of three or more professional references.   

NOTE: Your resume and letter of interest must be attached to your application. Please confirm they are attached before you submit.

Please address any questions to:

Sal Salazar, Human Resources

Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction
 600 Washington Street Southeast 
 Olympia, Washington 98504-7200

360-725-6278: sal.salazar@k12.wa.us
 
Persons needing accommodation in the application process or this announcement in an alternative format may contact the Human Resources Office at (360) 725-6270 or (360) 725-6066, or e-mail hroffice@k12.wa.us.

New Jobs Alert Service

OSPI offers a subscription service, which regularly notifies subscribers of new OSPI employment opportunities on careers.wa.gov. Subscribers are notified via text or email alert. If you are interested in this service, then please subscribe at this location. 

OSPI is an equal opportunity employer and encourages applications from job seekers who will contribute to our diversity. OSPI provides equal access to all programs and services without discrimination based on sex, race, creed, religion, color, national origin, age, honorably discharged veteran or military status, sexual orientation including gender expression or identity, the presence of any sensory, mental, or physical disability, or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal by a person with a disability. If you would like, please include your name and gender pronouns in your application, to ensure we address you appropriately throughout the application process. Persons needing accommodation in the application process or this announcement in an alternative format may contact the human resource consultant listed in “Application Process.”