[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2567 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2567

   To recruit, hire, and train additional school-based mental health 
                               personnel.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 20, 1999

    Ms. Lee (for herself, Mr. Hastings of Florida, Mr. Thompson of 
Mississippi, Mr. Frost, Mr. Filner, Mr. Lewis of Georgia, Mr. Oberstar, 
Ms. Millender-McDonald, Mr. George Miller of California, Mr. McGovern, 
   Mr. Jackson of Illinois, Mr. Owens, Ms. Jackson-Lee of Texas, Ms. 
  Waters, Ms. Carson, Ms. Kilpatrick, Ms. McKinney, Ms. Eddie Bernice 
     Johnson of Texas, Mrs. Jones of Ohio, and Mr. Green of Texas) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                      Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To recruit, hire, and train additional school-based mental health 
                               personnel.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. MENTAL HEALTH AND STUDENT SERVICE PROVIDERS.

    Title X of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 
U.S.C. 8001 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

         ``PART L--MENTAL HEALTH AND STUDENT SERVICE PROVIDERS

``SEC. 10993. FINDINGS.

    ``Congress finds the following:
            ``(1) Although 7,500,000 children under the age of 18 
        require mental health services, fewer than 1 in 5 of these 
        children receive the services.
            ``(2) Across the United States, counseling professionals 
        are stretched thin, and often students do not get the help the 
        students need. The current national average ratio of students 
        to counselors in elementary and secondary schools is 513:1.
            ``(3) United States schools need more mental health 
        professionals, and the flexibility to hire the professionals 
        that will best serve their students.
            ``(4) The maximum recommended ratio of--
                    ``(A) students to counselors is 250:1;
                    ``(B) students to psychologists is 1,000:1; and
                    ``(C) students to social workers is 800:1.
            ``(5) In States like California or Minnesota, 1 counselor 
        typically serves more than 1,000 students. In some schools, no 
        counselor is available to assist students in times of crisis, 
        or at any other time. In Colorado, the average student-to-
        counselor ratio is 645:1.
            ``(6) The number of students is expected to grow 
        significantly over the next few years. During this time, many 
        school-based mental health professionals who currently serve 
        our Nation's youth will retire. Not counting these retirements, 
        over 100,000 new school counselors will be needed to decrease 
        the student-to-counselor ratio to 250:1 by the year 2005.
            ``(7) The Federal support for reducing the student-to-
        counselor ratio would pay for itself, through reduced 
        incidences of death, violence, and substance abuse, and through 
        improvements in students' academic achievement, graduation 
        rates, college attendance, and employment.

``SEC. 10993A. PURPOSE.

    ``The purpose of this part is to help States and local educational 
agencies recruit, train, and hire 141,000 additional school-based 
mental health personnel, including 100,000 additional counselors, 
21,000 additional school psychologists, and 20,000 additional school 
social workers over a 5-year period--
            ``(1) to reduce the student-to-counselor ratios nationally, 
        in elementary and secondary schools, to an average of--
                    ``(A) 1 school counselor for every 250 students
                    ``(B) 1 school psychologist for every 1,000 
                students; and
                    ``(C) 1 social worker for every 800 students;
        as recommended in a report by the Institute of Medicine of the 
        National Academy of Sciences relating to schools and health, 
        issued in 1997;
            ``(2) to help adequately address the mental, emotional, and 
        developmental needs of elementary and secondary school 
        students;
            ``(3) to remove the emotional, behavioral, and psycho-
        social barriers to learning so as to enhance the classroom 
        preparedness and ability to learn of students;
            ``(4) to support school staff and teachers in improving 
        classroom management, conducting behavioral interventions to 
        improve school discipline, and developing the awareness and 
        skills to identify early warning signs of violence and the need 
        for mental health services; and
            ``(5) to support parents in improving the school behavior 
        and academic success of their children.

``SEC. 10993B. DEFINITIONS.

    ``In this part:
            ``(1) Mental health and student service provider.--The term 
        `mental health and student service provider' includes a 
        qualified school counselor, school psychologist, or school 
        social worker.
            ``(2) Mental health and student services.--The term `mental 
        health and student services' includes direct, individual, and 
        group services provided to students, parents, and school 
        personnel by mental health and student service providers, or 
        the coordination of prevention strategies in schools or 
        community-based programs.
            ``(3) Poverty line.--The term ``poverty line'' means the 
        poverty line (as defined by the Office of Management and 
        Budget, and revised annually in accordance with section 673(2) 
        of the Community Services Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 9902(2)) 
        applicable to a family of the size involved.
            ``(4) School counselor.--The term `school counselor' means 
        an individual who has documented competence in counseling 
        children and adolescents in a school setting and who--
                    ``(A) possesses State licensure or certification 
                granted by an independent professional regulatory 
                authority;
                    ``(B) in the absence of such State licensure or 
                certification, possesses national certification in 
                school counseling or a specialty of counseling granted 
                by an independent professional organization; or
                    ``(C) holds a minimum of a master's degree in 
                school counseling from a program accredited by the 
                Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related 
                Educational Programs or the equivalent.
            ``(5) School psychologist.--The term `school psychologist' 
        means an individual who--
                    ``(A) possesses a minimum of 60 graduate semester 
                hours in school psychology from an institution of 
                higher education and has completed 1,200 clock hours in 
                a supervised school psychology internship, of which 600 
                hours shall be in the school setting;
                    ``(B) possesses State licensure or certification in 
                the State in which the individual works; or
                    ``(C) in the absence of such State licensure or 
                certification, possesses national certification by the 
                National School Psychology Certification Board.
            ``(6) School social worker.--The term `school social 
        worker' means an individual who holds a master's degree in 
        social work and is licensed or certified by the State in which 
        services are provided or holds a school social work specialist 
        credential.
            ``(7) State.--The term `State' means each of the several 
        States of the United States, the District of Columbia, and the 
        Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

``SEC. 10993C. ALLOTMENTS TO STATES.

    ``(a) Allotments.--From the amount appropriated under section 
10993H for a fiscal year, the Secretary--
            ``(1) shall make a total of 1 percent available to the 
        Secretary of the Interior (on behalf of the Bureau of Indian 
        Affairs) and the outlying areas for activities that achieve the 
        purposes of this part; and
            ``(2) shall allot to each eligible State the same 
        percentage of the remaining funds as the percentage the State 
        received of funds allocated to States for the previous fiscal 
        year under part A of title I, except that such allotments shall 
        be ratably decreased as necessary.
    ``(b) State-Level Expenses.--Each State may use not more than \1/2\ 
of 1 percent of the amount the State receives under this part, or 
$50,000, whichever is greater, for a fiscal year, for the 
administrative costs of the State educational agency in carrying out 
this part.

``SEC. 10993D. STATE APPLICATIONS.

    ``(a) In General.--To be eligible to receive an allotment under 
section 10993C, a State shall submit an application to the Secretary at 
such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the 
Secretary may require, including an assurance that the State will 
provide the State share of the cost described in section 10993G.
    ``(b) Approval.--In approving the applications, the Secretary 
shall, to the extent practicable, approve applications to fund, in the 
aggregate, 100,000 additional counselors, 21,000 additional school 
psychologists, and 20,000 additional school social workers.

``SEC. 10993E. ALLOCATIONS TO LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES.

    ``(a) Within State Distribution.--
            ``(1) In general.--After using funds in accordance with 
        section 10993C(b), each State that receives an allotment under 
        section 10993C shall allocate to eligible local educational 
        agencies in the State the total of--
                    ``(A) the amount of the allotted funds that remain; 
                and
                    ``(B) the State share of the cost described in 
                section 10993G for the local educational agencies.
            ``(2) Allocation.--From the total described in paragraph 
        (1), the State shall allocate to each local educational agency 
        an amount equal to the sum of--
                    ``(A) an amount that bears the same relationship to 
                80 percent of such total as the number of children in 
                poverty who reside in the school district served by the 
                local educational agency bears to the number of such 
                children who reside in all the school districts in the 
                State; and
                    ``(B) an amount that bears the same relationship to 
                20 percent of such total as the number of children 
                enrolled in public and private nonprofit elementary 
                schools and secondary schools in the school district 
                served by the local educational agency bears to the 
                number of children enrolled in all such schools in the 
                State.
            ``(3) Data.--For purposes of paragraph (2), the State shall 
        use data from the most recent fiscal year for which 
        satisfactory data are available, except that the State may 
        adjust such data, or use alternative child poverty data, to 
        carry out paragraph (2) if the State demonstrates to the 
        Secretary's satisfaction that such adjusted or alternative data 
        more accurately reflect the relative incidence of children who 
        are living in poverty and who reside in the school districts in 
        the State.
    ``(b) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Child.--The term `child' means an individual who is 
        not less than 5 and not more than 17.
            ``(2) Child in poverty.--The term `child in poverty' means 
        a child from a family with an income below the poverty line.

``SEC. 10993F. LOCAL APPLICATIONS.

    ``To be eligible to receive an allocation under section 10993E, a 
local educational agency shall submit an application to the State at 
such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the State 
may require, including an assurance that the agency will provide the 
local share of the cost described in section 10993G.

``SEC. 10993G. USE OF FUNDS.

    ``(a) In General.--A local educational agency that receives an 
allocation under section 10993E shall use the funds made available 
through the allocation to pay for the local share of the cost of 
recruiting, hiring, and training mental health and student service 
providers to provide mental health and student services, to students in 
elementary schools and secondary schools, for a 1-year period.
    ``(b) Federal, State, and Local Shares.--
            ``(1) Federal share.--The Federal share of the cost shall 
        be 33\1/3\ percent.
            ``(2) State share.--The State share of the cost shall be 
        33\1/3\ percent.
            ``(3) Local share.--The local share of the cost shall be 
        33\1/3\ percent.
            ``(4) Non-federal share.--The non-Federal share of the cost 
        may be provided in cash or in kind, fairly evaluated, including 
        plant, equipment or services.

``SEC. 10993H. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    ``To carry out this part, there are authorized to be appropriated 
$340,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2000 through 2004.''.
                                 <all>