SB 1318: Pupil health: suicide prevention policies: pupil suicide crisis.

Existing law requires the governing board or body of a local educational agency, defined as a county office of education, school district, state special school, or charter school, that serves pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, to adopt a policy on pupil suicide prevention that specifically addresses, among other things, procedures relating to suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention, and any training on suicide awareness and prevention to be provided to teachers of pupils in all of the grades served by the local educational agency. Existing law requires the governing board or body of a local educational agency that serves pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, to review, at minimum every 5th year, its policy on pupil suicide prevention and, if necessary, update its policy. To assist local educational agencies in developing policies for pupil suicide prevention, existing law requires the State Department of Education to develop and maintain a model policy to serve as a guide for local educational agencies, as provided.

This bill would require, on or before July 1, 2026, the department to update the model policy to address crisis intervention protocols in the event of a pupil suicide crisis, as defined, including the process by which staff and external agencies are deployed to address a pupil suicide crisis, limiting the involvement and notification of law enforcement to situations in which a pupils life is in imminent danger and their needs cannot be addressed by a mental health professional, and the assessment process that law enforcement officers should follow to determine whether the pupil experiencing a suicide crisis is endangered by parental notification. The bill would require, on or after July 1, 2026, the governing board or body of a local educational agency to update their pupil suicide prevention policy to include these crisis intervention protocols, as provided. The bill would encourage, when the governing board or body of a local educational agency reviews its policy on pupil suicide prevention, if the local educational agency does not have a school mental health professional, as defined, or contract with a mental health professional, as defined, the governing board or body to consider whether funding should be identified for purposes of hiring a school mental health professional. By imposing additional duties on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.