HB 906 Task Force

School Mental Health Task Force

The 86th Texas Legislature charged TEA in HB 906 to develop a Mental Health Task Force to study and evaluate mental health services that are funded by the state and provided at a school district or open-enrollment charter school directly to a student, parent or family member or employee.  The Task Force is also directed to study training provided to an educator and the impact of the mental health training and services.  The Task Force will be supported by an institution of higher education to collect and analyze data. TEA is responsible to appoint the membership of the Task Force and support the work and goals of the Task Force, as outlined in the legislation and as identified by the Task Force. The first Task Force report was submitted in 2020.

Key Recommendations from 2025 Report

Recommendation 1: Provide targeted school mental health funding.

Targeted funding to support school mental health infrastructure and staffing remains a significant challenge, and it is likely to be exacerbated as federal funding for the pandemic recovery ends. With the end of ESSER funding, districts and schools may be unable to sustain the progress that has occurred over the past four years. The Task Force recommends consideration of the following:

A.) Develop a workgroup to identify best practices in braided funding for school mental health, highlighting successful practices in Texas LEAs. The workgroup should provide LEAs and charter schools with guidance and tools to identify robust options for supporting school mental health programs and practices.

B.) Establish a Mental Health Allotment to provide districts with a consistent and dedicated funding stream to support schoolwide and targeted strategies that address the mental health needs of all students.

C.) Continue to build upon the success of the Project AWARE Texas (federal SAMHSA grant), Texas Center for Student Supports (TCSS), and the Stronger Connections Grant by allocating resources to a grant program for schools to build the infrastructure for a robust student support program. The grant should be accompanied by professional development, technical assistance, and evaluation under the TCSS.

D.) In accordance with Medicaid #14-006, Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) should be directed to amend the state Medicaid Plan to allow school districts that are Medicaid providers to be reimbursed for behavioral health services provided to students enrolled in Medicaid, beyond those provided to students with disabilities with an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). Additional guidance on leveraging Medicaid to support access to school-based services is found in this informational bulletin.

E.) Create additional flexibility within the funding allocated to the Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium to allow LEAs to access funds for local partnerships or school-based services.

Recommendation 2: Accountability for Professional Development.

The Task Force found that school staff are currently required to complete professional development across several critical content areas to support student mental health. LEAs have state-supported training resources available through the Local Mental Health Authority, the Behavioral Health Partnership Program (BHPP) or Non-Physician Mental Health Provider, the Education Service Center, and the Texas Child Mental Health Consortium. While these resources are available, many LEAs still report gaps in training. The Task Force recommends the development of a state reporting system for required training for educators or other school personnel to allow for greater accountability with required competencies and training.

Recommendation 3. Accountability for School Counselor Time.

The Task Force commends TEA for establishing a rule required tracking of professional school counselor time and submission of district policies and tracking documentation for a sample of districts. The Task Force recommends continued oversight of the implementation of the rule along with a corrective action plan for districts failing to meet the required expectations.

Recommendation 4. Sustain or Develop a State Center on School Mental Health.

TEA has established the Texas Center for Student Support, which includes a focus on addressing the mental and behavioral health needs of students and staff. The Task Force recommends that TEA sustain this or a similar center to provide technical assistance and resource support to districts within the state, especially those that are small, rural, or serve a significant proportion of at-risk students. In addition to the Centers current focus, the Task Force recommends the following tasks:

A.) Provide technical assistance to schools around effective school mental health systems, such as teaming, universal screening, needs assessment and resource mapping, and developing referral pathways.

B.) Provide technical assistance to LEAs on funding for school mental health services and school-wide policies that support student social, emotional, and mental wellness.

C.) Provide coaching on the implementation of evidence-based interventions at each tier in the MTSS, using research-informed approaches.

D.) Provide technical assistance around collecting measures of practice fidelity and outcomes, ensuring reliable measurement on all statewide measures.

E.) Conduct research, including obtaining additional funding support, on best practices in school mental health and return on investment within Texas schools.

Recommendation 5. Expansion of Data Collection.

The Task Force has made several recommendations to improve the collection of data on school mental health needs, services, and outcomes in previous reports. With the recent launching of the Sentinel product to capture data related to school safety and the Safe and Supportive School Program, the Task Force recommends Sentinel be used to collect data in alignment with the following components of the SSSP:

A.) The school-based mental health supports or services available at Tiers 1, 2, and 3 of the MTSS for mental health, the number of students each support/service can serve, and any referral criteria.

B.) The number of referrals for threat assessments related to the risk of harm to self and those associated with the risk of harm to others, total and broken down by gender, race, ethnicity, special education status, and economically disadvantaged status.

C.) The number of school-based mental health referrals to Tier 2 or Tier 3 services/supports, the number that resulted from a behavioral threat assessment, and the number of students who received the support/service. If the student did not receive the recommended support/service, the data collection should include why the service was not received (e.g., parent declined or lack of provider capacity).

D.) The number of mental health referrals to Communities In Schools (CIS), TCHATT, Licensed Mental Health Authority (LMHAs), or another partner or community-based provider, the number that was the result of a behavioral threat assessment, and the number of students who received the support/service.

E.) The number of mental health referrals to a psychiatric hospital, acute care hospital, or emergency room to address acute mental health risks, the number from a behavioral threat assessment, and the number of students who received the support/service.

In addition to data collection through Sentinel, the Task Force recommends the development of two additional data collection platforms to assist school districts in collecting key data to inform and oversee the MTSS for school mental health and make data-driven decisions for the district and campuses. These platforms include:

F.) TEA should support the development of an electronic platform that school districts can use to conduct annual school climate surveys. The surveys collected by districts should be confidential and available only to the district administrators but could be shared with stakeholders at the district’s discretion as a best practice. The platform should allow districts to customize the surveys to meet the district’s needs while maintaining a core set of items required of all districts. The platform should include real-time access to data visualizations following the closure of the survey, as well as disaggregation by informant characteristics (e.g., grade and gender). The platform should include anonymous surveys completed by staff, students, and families. The platform should allow schools to benchmark their results against the average of Texas schools with similar characteristics and track results over time.

G.) TEA should support the development or adoption of a technology platform to monitor student progress within mental or behavioral health services, both school- and community-based and provide data visualizations to support the student support team in overseeing individual student service needs and progress, as well as aggregate data to examine the overall outcomes of services and service providers.

Recommendation 6. Continuation of the Collaborative Task Force.

The Task Force members believe that independent evaluation of the state-funded school mental health services and training should continue over the next two to three biennia. The Task Force provided an opportunity to bring together data from a variety of resources across the state to examine services offered through varied funding sources and agencies. While this work could remain within an appointed Task Force, it could also become a role of a State Center (see Recommendation 4) that operates under the guidance of a multi-disciplinary advisory board. A funded Center for School Mental Health could include a partnership with one or more Institutes of Higher Education (IHE), providing infrastructure for evaluation and data analysis. As currently designed, the Task Force has limited resources to complete its tasks, as it relies fully on volunteers and time commitment from those volunteers’ organizations.