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House Bill 18 |
House Author: Price et al. |
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Effective: 12-1-19 |
Senate Sponsor: Watson et al. |
House Bill 18 amends the Civil Practice and Remedies Code, Education Code, and Health and Safety Code to set out provisions relating to the mental health of public school students. Among other provisions, the bill provides for implementation of best practice‑based programs and research‑based practices regarding mental health promotion and intervention, substance abuse prevention and intervention, and suicide prevention in public schools. The bill revises provisions relating to continuing education requirements for a classroom teacher, a principal, and a school counselor and provisions relating to the authorized and required components for staff development training provided by a public school district to an educator other than a principal. The bill includes an emphasis on mental health, including certain associated instruction, as an additional requirement for a district's health enrichment curriculum and requires the State Board of Education to adopt essential knowledge and skills for the health enrichment curriculum that address specified matters related to substance abuse, including the use of illegal drugs, abuse of prescription drugs, abuse of alcohol, and other forms of substance abuse. The bill requires the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to compile evidence‑based substance abuse awareness programs for use by a district in the district's health enrichment curriculum and changes the method for determining the effectiveness of such a program.
House Bill 18 renames each school's developmental guidance and counseling program as the comprehensive school counseling program and provides for certain requirements relating to such a program. The bill authorizes a district to employ or contract with one or more nonphysician mental health professionals. The bill expands the scope of coordinated health programs that TEA is required to make available to each district, revises the required recommendations composing part of the duties of a local school health advisory council, and provides for the publication of certain statements relating to district policies and procedures to promote student physical and mental health and regarding whether each campus employs a full‑time nurse or full‑time counselor in the student handbook and for the posting of those statements on the district's website. The bill provides for TEA‑developed guidelines for school districts regarding partnerships with certain mental health providers and regarding obtaining mental health services through Medicaid, a school‑based health center at an open-enrollment charter school, and a local health education and health care advisory council established by the governing body of such a school. The bill requires the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) and TEA to make information about the mental health first aid program available on their respective websites. The bill revises provisions relating to a local mental health authority's annual report to HHSC and the HHSC report to the legislature.