SB 191: Pupil health: mental health and substance use disorder services.

Existing law requires school districts, county offices of education, and special education local plan areas (SELPAs) to comply with state laws that implement the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, in order that the state may qualify for federal funds available for the education of individuals with exceptional needs. Existing law requires school districts, county offices of education, and SELPAs to identify, locate, and assess individuals with exceptional needs and to provide those pupils with a free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment, and with special education and related services, including mental health services, as reflected in an individualized education program.

This bill would authorize a county, or a qualified provider operating as part of the county mental health plan network, and a local educational agency to enter into a partnership to create a program that includes, among other things, targeted interventions for pupils with identified social-emotional, behavioral, and academic needs and an agreement to establish that establishes a Medi-Cal mental health and substance use disorder provider that is county operated or county contracted for the provision of mental health and substance use disorder services to pupils of the local educational agency and in which there are provisions for the delivery of campus-based mental health and substance use disorder services through qualified providers or qualified professionals to provide on-campus support to identify pupils with an individualized education program (IEP), and pupils who do not have an IEP, but who a teacher believes may require mental health or substance use disorder services and, with parental consent, to provide those services to those pupils.

The bill would require the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission, in consultation with the State Department of Education and the State Department of Health Care Services, to develop guidelines for the use of funds from the Mental Health Services Fund by a county for innovative programs and prevention and early intervention programs to enter into and support the above-mentioned partnerships. The bill would create the County and Local Educational Agency Partnership Fund in the State Treasury, which would be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the State Department of Education for the purpose of funding these partnerships, as specified, and would require the State Department of Education to fund these partnerships through a competitive grant program. The bill would also make related findings and declarations.