FLINT, Mich. — U.S. education officials on Friday announced a $480,000 grant to help Flint schools as the public district grapples with problems associated with the city’s lead-contaminated drinking water crisis. The money will support the hiring of attendance specialists, counselors and psychologists.

Education Secretary John King Jr. said Flint’s challenges, including its water crisis, are “emblematic of a broader crisis, which is an unwillingness to invest in the common good.

“And you see that in the lack of investment in infrastructure, and you see that in the lack of investment in education,” King said.