![]() ![]() There was frequent discussion this legislative session about the impact of the pandemic on student mental health, and we were glad to see the Legislature pass two bills that support student SEL within schools. We appreciate the Legislature passing bills to require student IDs to include contact information for suicide prevention crisis services improve suicide prevention practices in foster care facilities and continue the Statewide Behavioral Health Coordinating Council work to improve suicide prevention efforts across state agencies. ![]() ![]() Additionally, we worked closely with legislators and our Texas Suicide Prevention Council partners on proposals to help reduce the rising rates of youth suicide in Texas. Unfortunately, the Legislature failed to dedicate funding for schools or the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to address learning loss rooted in the social-emotional effects of the pandemic or to prevent students whose behaviors are rooted in trauma from being pushed out of their classrooms. Lawmakers also passed a bill to ensure school counselors can spend more of their time counseling students. After years of effort by our staff and partners to highlight the importance of SEL, the Legislature passed bills to allow districts to use an existing funding stream to provide SEL programs and to ensure key SEL skills are incorporated into school curricula and programs. This session we were pleased to see legislators pass bills in support of social-emotional learning (SEL), school counseling, and suicide prevention, but the Legislature failed to take other steps to adequately support student mental health and address the trauma of the pandemic. ![]()
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