Today's Law As Amended


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AB-1479 Pupil health: social-emotional, behavioral, and mental health supports.(2023-2024)



As Amends the Law Today


SECTION 1.
 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Children struggling with mental health issues have difficulty learning and attending school consistently, and educators have reported increases in troubling pupil behavior. The trends are alarming:
(1) One-third of California adolescents 12 to 17 years of age experienced serious psychological distress between 2019 and 2021, including a 20-percent increase in adolescent suicides.
(2) Rates of anxiety and depression among California’s children shot up by 70 percent from 2016 to 2020.
(3) A study by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that one in three teenage girls seriously considered suicide, up nearly 60 percent from one decade ago.
(4) The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated economic and psychological trauma that already existed in communities of color and underresourced communities.
(b) California’s mental health systems have been exhausted, leading to dangerously long wait times for therapy sessions for those who seek them.
(c) California is experiencing a significant workforce shortage among mental health counselors, psychologists, and social workers.
(d) Schools are a hub for mental health support for pupils and their families, especially in underresourced communities that do not have equitable access to mental health services.
(e) A coordinated and holistic model that leverages Tier 1 evidence-based social-emotional, mental, and behavioral health supports for all pupils, including pupils with a history of trauma and who have multiple adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), is essential to creating safe schools where pupils can focus on learning.
(f) Schools are physically safer when pupils feel like they belong and receive the comprehensive support they need.
(g) Research shows that incorporating families in the model of care creates positive childhood experiences (PCEs).
(h) Research also shows that pupils are more likely to seek counseling when services are available in schools.
(i) Culturally responsive school mental health services can reduce the stigma associated with receiving mental health services by making it part of the fabric of the school system.

SEC. 2.

 Article 15 (commencing with Section 49591) is added to Chapter 9 of Part 27 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Education Code, to read:

Article  15. The Pupil Social-Emotional, Behavioral, and Mental Health Program
49591.
 For purposes of this article, the following definitions apply:
(a) “Evidence-based” means using research that is available and has been tested for efficacy and effectiveness intended to best fit the population served.
(b) “Evidence-based, Tier 1 social-emotional, behavioral, and mental health supports” include, but are not limited to, all of the following:
(1) Providing support to pupils and families to address social-emotional and mental health concerns.
(2) Workshops and seminars for parents and families to provide social-emotional preventive interventions, including positive parenting tools.
(3) Facilitating collaboration and coordination between school and community-based providers to support pupils and families to obtain access to behavioral and mental health supports in school.
(4) Providing families with referrals to clinical care in order to support pupils’ mental health needs within the community, as needed.
(5) Facilitating behavioral training programs for school staff, including, but not limited to, behavior management strategies, mental health support training, trauma-informed practices, and professional self-care such as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Community Approach to Learning Mindfully (CALM), and Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE).
(c) “Local educational agency” means a county office of education, school district, or charter school.
(d) “Model Tier 1 Support” means a coordinated and holistic approach that leverages evidence-based, Tier 1 social-emotional, behavioral, and mental health supports for all pupils, including pupils with a history of trauma.
(e) “Tier 1” means supports that include, but are not limited to, activities that promote good mental health and help prevent mental health concerns, prevention and early intervention services for pupils that are higher risk for mental health concerns, short-term care, positive behaviors and relationships, social-emotional learning, coping skills for stress and anxiety, peer support, success coaching for pupils, short-term crisis intervention and deescalation, screening, and initiating and facilitating referrals to community-based services for more intensive clinical treatment as required.
49591.1.
 (a) The Pupil Social-Emotional, Behavioral, and Mental Health Program is hereby established, to be administered by the department, to provide eligible local educational agencies with an allocation of moneys to provide Model Tier 1 Support accessible to pupils and families.
(b) (1) All schools within a local educational agency who meet the eligibility criteria described in subdivision (a) of Section 49591.2 and who have a plan approved by the department to provide Model Tier 1 Support accessible to pupils and families shall be eligible under this section for an allocation of moneys to support the mental health needs of their pupils.
(2) Within 90 days of receipt of funding for the program, the department shall publish a streamlined application form and identify criteria for the evaluation of applicants and the awarding of grants for eligible local educational agencies who submit a plan to provide Model Tier 1 Support to pupils for three consecutive school years consistent with this article.
(3) (A) Applications for the program shall be due within 90 days from the publishing of the streamlined application and shall be approved, denied, or returned by the department to local educational agencies with a request for information by no later than 30 days from receipt.
(B) Before awarding a grant to an applicant, the department shall require the applicant to certify in its plan that it has consulted with relevant providers in program planning and service delivery to pupils and families, including, but not limited to, the local county mental health department and community-based organizations.
(c) Upon the conclusion of the initial three consecutive school year term specified pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (b), the department shall establish dates for publication, submission, and determination of applications from local educational agencies for each fiscal year thereafter to provide Model Tier 1 Support in order to ensure that the department approves or denies applications on or before December 31 of the preceding calendar year.
49591.2.
 All of the following apply to the delivery of Model Tier 1 Support pursuant to this article:
(a) All local educational agencies shall be eligible, but priority status shall be contingent on local educational agency needs, as determined by official reporting of an unduplicated percentage of 55 percent or higher, as calculated pursuant to Section 2574 or 42238.02, as applicable.
(b) They may be delivered by employees of a school with an approved plan or by community-based organizations with experienced paraprofessionals. Paraprofessionals shall be required to furnish to the local educational agency a full set of fingerprints and pass a criminal record background check before such delivery.
(c) Local educational agencies with approved plans are encouraged to contract with community-based organizations for delivery of supports to families at schoolsites.
49591.3.
 The implementation of this article is contingent upon an appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act or another statute for these purposes.
SEC. 3.
 The Legislature finds and declares that this act is consistent with, and furthers the intent of, the Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative Act (Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 5961) of Part 7 of Division 5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code).