EDUCATION: The passport to the FUTURE

H.R. 2283: The Student Support Act

Summary:

This bill establishes a formula grant program to allow states to hire additional school-based mental health and student service personnel ---- counselors, psychologists, and social workers. It is a revised and fiscally downsized version of H.R. 2567 from the 106th Congress. Currently, students are dangerously underserved by counselors, with student to counselor ratios as high as 1100 to 1 in some states. This bill would complement the successful Elementary School Counseling Demonstration competitive grant program by adding a formula grant component to ensure that all 50 states can benefit from the additional school-based mental health personnel.

What does the bill do?

This legislation will provide formula grants to the states to hire additional school-based mental health and student services providers, including counselors, psychologists, and social workers.

Why is this needed?

The National Academy of Sciences recommends that the maximum ratio of students to counselors not exceed 250:1. In some states the actual ratio is over 1000:1. In many schools, no school-based mental health and student service provider is available to assist students in times of crisis, or at any other time. Studies show that counselors make a difference in students= lives. With rising dropout rates, school violence, substance abuse problems, school shootings, and suicides, our schools need support for counselors, social workers, and psychologists. The Surgeon General of the Public Health Service has found that although 1 in 10 children suffer from mental illness severe enough to cause some level of impairment, in any given year fewer than 1 in 5 receive treatment.
Model programs using school-based mental health and student service providers have reduced school suspensions; reduced referrals to the principal’s office; reduced the use of weapons, force, and threats; and increased students’ feelings of safety.

How does this compare to other Federal school counselors programs?

The Student Support Act is intended to complement the successful Elementary School Counseling Demonstration project into middle and high schools. The existing demonstration project gives competitive grants to Local Educational Authorities (LEAs) to hire additional school-based mental health personnel. As beneficial as this important program is, the current program only reaches 58 school districts in the country, even though 550 districts applied for funding this year.

The Student Support Act will add a complementary formula grant program to ensure that more students can be served by these important school-based mental health personnel. Under the Student Support Act amendment, all 50 states would receive funding for school-based counselors, social workers, and psychologists.

The Student Support Act is especially important for rural and urban school districts that do not have grant-writing procedures in place to apply for the current elementary (and now secondary) school demonstration project. The Student Support Act would also target resources to the most disadvantaged school districts, whose students are often most in need of services.

Additionally, the current elementary (and now secondary) school counseling program requires each individual program to be evaluated. The Student Support Act requires the Secretary of Education to collect data nationwide to begin to systematically document the need for such services.

What will the legislation cost?

The Student Support Act authorizes $100 million for each year from Fiscal Year 2001 through 2006 for matching funds to be used assist local educational agencies in hiring additional school-based mental health and student services providers.

Who supports the Lee Student Support Act amendment?

• American Art Therapy Association
• American Counseling Association
• American Dance Therapy Association
• American Music Therapy Association
• American School Counselor Association
• American Speech-Learning and Hearing Association
• International Association of Pupil Personnel Workers, Inc.
• National Association of Pupil Service Administrators
• National Association of School Psychologists
• National Association of Social Workers
• National Education Association
• National PTA
• School Social Work Association of America
  
  

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