BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
SB 596 (Yee) - Pilot Program: Pupil Mental Health
Amended: January 17, 2014 Policy Vote: Education 8-0,
Health 7-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: January 23, 2014
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez
SUSPENSE FILE.
Bill Summary: SB 596 requires the California Department of
Education (CDE) to establish a three-year pilot program, as
specified, to encourage model practices of interventions that
meet the behavioral, emotional and academic needs of students.
Fiscal Impact:
Start-up and Evaluation: State start-up costs in the tens
of thousands of dollars, for the CDE to create an
application process, select schools, and establish the
program. Potentially significant costs for the Department of
Health Care Services (DHCS) and the CDE to collaboratively
develop a comprehensive evaluation plan and disseminate best
practices. Additionally, this bill would allocate $1 million
in the first year, $800,000 in the second year, and $600,000
in the third year (General Fund), to participating schools
for start-up and evaluation/reporting costs.
Program Administration: Annual staffing costs of
approximately $125,000, for the CDE to administer this pilot
program for three years and complete the required report.
Program Expansion: Potentially substantial future costs to
expand the program statewide. To the extent that state
funding of tiered intervention programs results in
decreasing more intensive special education
placements/services, there may be offsetting savings.
Background: Tiered intervention is an approach to early
identification and support of students with learning and
behavior needs. Models of tiered intervention vary but,
characteristically, the approach provides struggling students
with interventions at increasing levels of intensity to
accelerate their learning. Students may receive intervention
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support from teachers, other personnel, or from specialists
partnering with the school. Many schools voluntarily follow
models of tiered interventions to address student needs prior to
imposing discipline or making referrals to special education.
Proposed Law: This bill requires the CDE to establish a
voluntary three-year pilot program in four schools to encourage
model practices of interventions that meet the behavioral,
emotional, and academic needs of students. Specifically, this
bill:
1) Requires the pilot program to be established in four
schools that volunteer to participate, which propose model
approaches that provide preventive, targeted and intensive
interventions that target the behavioral, emotional and
academic needs of students.
2) Establishes numerous requirements for participating
schools, including formalized collaboration with local
mental health agencies to provide school-based mental
health services, and targeted interventions for students
with identified social-emotional, behavioral and academic
needs. Limits participation to two northern California and
two southern California schools, and to schools in which
60% or more of students are eligible for free or
reduced-price meals or free milk in child nutrition
programs.
3) Requires the CDE to provide start-up and evaluation funding
to each participating school, as follows: a) $250,000 in
the first year; b) $200,000 in the second year; and,
$150,000 in the third year.
4) Requires the DHCS and CDE to create a comprehensive
evaluation and progress indicators, and to disseminate best
practices.
5) Requires the CDE to submit a report to the Legislature at
the end of the three-year period evaluating the success of
the program and making further recommendations.
6) Codifies legislative intent that the models used by
participating schools and evaluated by CDE can be adopted
by additional schools upon demonstrated success of the
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pilot program.
7) Codifies legislative findings and declarations that all
students deserve adequate behavioral and academic support,
students face many challenges such as poverty, current
funding practices do not incentivize preventative measures,
and collaboration is needed between schools and county
mental health agencies.
Related Legislation: AB 1178 (Bocanegra) establishes the
California Promise Neighborhood Initiative to provide funding to
schools that have formalized partnerships with local agencies
and community organizations to provide a network of services to
improve the health, safety, education, and economic development
of a defined area. That bill awaits hearing by the Assembly
Appropriations Committee.
AB 174 (Bonta) would have required the Department of Public
Health to establish a pilot program in Alameda County, to the
extent that funding is made available, to provide grants to
eligible applicants for activities and services that directly
address the mental health and related needs of students impacted
by trauma. That bill was vetoed by Governor Brown, with the
following message:
I support the efforts of the bill but am returning it without my
signature, as Alameda County can establish such a program
without state intervention and may even be able to use Mental
Health Services Act funding to do so.
Waiting for the state to act may cause unnecessary delays in
delivering valuable mental health services to students. All
counties -not just Alameda- should explore all potential funding
options, including Mental Health Services Act funds, to tailor
programs that best meet local needs.
Staff Comments: This bill will result in upfront state costs to
establish and administer the pilot program, as well as to
provide funding for participating schools. The CDE must create
the program, and collaborate with the DHCS to develop a
"comprehensive evaluation plan" to assess the pilot program. The
CDE must also develop a "detailed application" and implement an
application process to select four schools which meet the
eligibility criteria.
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Amendments adopted in Senate Health Committee limit program
eligibility to schools in which 60% or more of students are
eligible for free or reduced-price meals "or free milk in child
nutrition programs." Staff notes that including the reference to
students eligible for free milk in child nutrition programs may
cause confusion in evaluating applications, and is unnecessary
if the intent is merely to limit the pilot to schools with 60%
or more low-income students. It is unclear whether this
additional measure of family income will have other
ramifications for the pilot.
This bill specifies that each participating school will receive
General Fund start-up and evaluation/reporting funding as
follows: $250,000 the first year, $200,000 in the second year,
and $150,000 in the third year. Schools would be expected to use
the funding to set up tiered intervention programs, and to
collect and annually report all of the required information. The
cost of actually providing the services to students would be
borne by the local schools (and districts).
The CDE would be responsible for providing ongoing technical
assistance, analyzing annual reports, and preparing a final
report on the pilot program for the Legislature and the
Governor. Annual staffing costs will likely be approximately
$125,000, for the CDE to administer this pilot program for three
years and complete the required report. DHCS costs are unknown.
The total state cost for the three year pilot will likely be at
least $2.8 - $2.9 million.
This bill codifies legislative intent to expand the program to
"a large number of schools" upon demonstrated success of the
pilot. Expanding the program at a state level will likely
require substantial additional state funding. To the extent
that state funding of tiered intervention programs results in
decreasing more intensive special education placements/services,
there may be offsetting savings.