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Funding increases for student mental health finds bipartisan support

As lawmakers continue to look for ways to improve school safety, strengthening mental health services for students is one approach that’s receiving bipartisan support.  

Sponsored by Rep. Jim Davnie (DFL-Mpls), HF3378, and HF960, sponsored by Rep. Jeff Backer (R-Browns Valley), would appropriate additional funds for children’s school-linked mental health grants.

The House Education Finance Committee on Wednesday held an informational hearing on the bills, which are currently in the House Health and Human Services Finance Committee. The companions, SF2815 and SF1369, await action by the Senate Human Services Reform Finance and Policy Committee. Sen. Greg Clausen (DFL-Apple Valley) and Sen. Matt Klein (DFL-Mendota Heights) are the respective sponsors.

Currently, Minnesota provides $11 million annually for school-linked mental health grants. Since the program began in 2007 its funding has steadily increased, but many proponents, including Sue Abderholden, executive director of NAMI Minnesota, said the need far exceeds current funding. 

“One of the things we’re running into, is even where we have a school-linked mental health program, the demand now is so high that they can’t meet it,” Abderholden said. “So we have schools that don’t have any and we have schools that need more.”

According to Davnie, the program has proven to be popular and beneficial for students and their families because it not only gives mental health professionals a more holistic view of the children they’re working with, but it also reduces logistical obstacles.    

“It reduces the barriers to young people receiving the services that they need,” he said. “They don’t have to miss the educational opportunities. Mom or dad doesn’t have to take off of work. They don’t have to arrange transportation, the services are provided where the kids gets dropped off every day already. That’s key.”

Blaire Hartley, a parent whose high school daughter, Mara, struggled with depression, said that when she developed symptoms, they didn’t know where to turn for help.

“Well-meaning teachers and administrators did not have either the time or the training to assist and yet we still had an obligation by law and by everything we wanted to do to keep her in a learning environment somehow,” she said. 

Despite having resources and an education, Hartley and her husband were unprepared and ill-equipped to handle the situation. It was a relief that Mara’s school, Southwest High School in Minneapolis, had an in-school therapist.

“Our family needed consult, assistance with online learning, intervention, oversight, help navigating the complex system of 504s, IEPs, special education accommodation. We felt unmoored by all of that,” Hartley said. “We wanted our daughter to regain her health and her ability to get an education, and her school had a crucial role to play in that. We were fortunate to find a school-based mental health therapist who worked with our daughter.”

The in-school services are presently offered in 43 percent of school buildings, in 83 percent of districts and in 78 of Minnesota’s 87 counties. This proposal calls for an unspecified funding increase in Fiscal Year 2019, with the goal of expanding the program to more schools, and reducing the waiting lists at schools already offering services.

At least 25 percent of the new funding would be given to providers that have the highest percentage of special education students categorized as having emotional and behavioral disorder, or are high poverty. Additionally, the grants would be distributed to both rural and urban communities.

The money would be appropriated through the Department of Human Services budget. The funds are to be given to mental health providers, rather than directly to school districts, to cover any services the student receives that aren’t covered by his or her insurance.

“I really want to let people know that we’re not there yet,” Abderholden said. “This is something that works, we really want to do something about children’s mental health, let’s expand this and really make sure that every child who needs it is able to access it.”

 


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