[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2982 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2982

To provide grants to States and local educational agencies to recruit, 
 train, and hire 100,000 school-based resource staff to help students 
               deal with personal state of mind problems.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 30, 1999

Mrs. Mink of Hawaii (for herself, Mr. Clay, Mr. Kildee, Mr. Pastor, Ms. 
 Woolsey, Mr. Payne, Mr. Martinez, Mr. Andrews, Mr. Owens, Mr. Scott, 
 Mr. Ford, Mr. Stark, Ms. Sanchez, Mr. Hinojosa, Mr. George Miller of 
  California, Mr. Tierney, and Mr. Menendez) introduced the following 
    bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the 
                               Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide grants to States and local educational agencies to recruit, 
 train, and hire 100,000 school-based resource staff to help students 
               deal with personal state of mind problems.

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

SECTION 1. RESOURCE STAFF FOR STUDENTS.

    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--RESOURCE STAFF FOR STUDENTS

``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 
        have an extremely busy caseload and often students do no get 
        the help they need. The current national average ratio of 
        students to counselors in elementary and secondary schools is 
        513:1.
            ``(3) Schools in the United States need more mental health 
        professionals, and the funds needed to hire staff to 
        specifically serve students.
            ``(4) The maximum recommended ratio of students-to-
        counselors is 250:1.
            ``(5) Existing counselors are severely taxed to perform 
        duties that are largely administrative in nature, such as 
        scheduling. They are burdened with many demands regarding 
        placement in colleges, texting, career guidance, and the like.
            ``(6) Student populations are expected to grow 
        significantly over the next few years. School-based services 
        for students will be in great demand. With expected large scale 
        retirements, more than 100,000 new dedicated resource staff for 
        students will be needed to increase student-to-staff service 
        availability.
            ``(7) The Federal support for reducing the student-to-staff 
        ratio would pay for itself, through reduced violence and 
        substance abuse, and through improvements in students' academic 
        achievement.

``SEC. 10994. PURPOSE.

    ``The purpose of this part is to assist States and local 
educational agencies recruit, train, and hire 100,000 school-based 
resource staff to specifically work with students--
            ``(1) to reduce the student-to-counseling ratios 
        nationally, in grades 6-12, to an average of 1 such staff for 
        every 250 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 address the mental, emotional, and 
        developmental needs of public school students; and
            ``(3) to support other school staff and teachers in 
        reaching students early before problems arise, 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.

``SEC. 10995. STUDENT RESOURCE STAFF PROGRAM.

    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary shall award grants under this 
section to establish or expand the number of resource staff available 
for students' needs.
            ``(1) Distribution.--In awarding grants under this section, 
        the Secretary shall allocate funds proportionately based on the 
        population that is less than 18 years of age in the States.
            ``(2) Duration.--A grant under this section shall be 
        awarded for a period not to exceed three years.
    ``(b) Applications.--
            ``(1) In general.--Each local educational agency desiring a 
        grant under this section shall submit an application to the 
        Secretary at such time, in such manner, and accompanied by such 
        information as the Secretary may reasonably require.
            ``(2) Contents.--Each application for a grant under this 
        section shall--
                    ``(A) describe the secondary public school 
                population to be targeted by the program, the 
                particular personal, social, emotional, education, and 
                career development needs of such population, and the 
                current school counseling resources available for 
                meeting such needs;
                    ``(B) describe the activities, services, and 
                training to be provided by the program and the specific 
                approaches to be used to meet the needs described in 
                subparagraph (A);
                    ``(C) describe the methods to be used to evaluate 
                the outcomes and effectiveness of the program;
                    ``(D) document that the applicant has the personnel 
                qualified to develop, implement, and administer the 
                program;
                    ``(E) assure that the funds made available under 
                this part for any fiscal year will be used to 
                supplement and, to the extent practicable, increase the 
                level of funds that would otherwise be available from 
                non-Federal sources for the program described in the 
                application, and in no case supplant such funds from 
                non-Federal sources.
    ``(c) Use of Funds.--Grants funds under this section shall be used 
to initiate or expand student resource staff programs that comply with 
the purpose under section 10994.
    ``(d) Definitions.--For purposes of this part the term `resource 
staff' means an individual who has documented competence and training 
in mental health to be able to provide services to children and 
adolescents in a school setting and who--
            ``(1) possesses State licensure or certification in mental 
        health granted by an independent professional regulatory 
        authority;
            ``(2) in the absence of such State licensure or 
        certification, possesses national certification in mental 
        health or in a related specialty granted by an independent 
        professional organization; or
            ``(3) 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; or
            ``(4) 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, and possesses State licensure or certification 
        in school psychology in the State in which the individual 
        works; or
            ``(5) holds a master's degree in social work and is 
        licensed or certified by the State in which services are to be 
        provided or holds a school social work specialist credential.
    ``(e) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this part $3,500,000,000 for fiscal year 
2000; $3,150,000,000 for fiscal year 2001; $2,800,000,000 for fiscal 
year 2002; $2,800,000,000 for fiscal year 2003; and $2,800,000,000 for 
fiscal year 2004 for the hiring of student resource staff.''.
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