Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Health School Based Centers topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Students, school health groups press Senate to preserve school-based health and mental health funding
Summary
Students and representatives from school-based health and mental-health organizations testified in support of maintaining proposed funding in HB 96 for school-based health centers, youth mental health programs and a request for a data hub to measure center performance.
Students from Meadowdale Career Technology Center and multiple nonprofit and provider witnesses told the Senate Health Committee the state budget should maintain or increase investments in school-based health centers and youth mental health services.
Kevin O'Donnell introduced students who described bullying, depression and substance-use pressures in schools and asked legislators to fund counseling, peer supports and alternatives to incarceration. "My name is Maya France. Today I will be talking about mental health. I suffer from depression," one student said, describing negative experiences with emergency evaluations and the need for more supportive on-campus resources.
Rheem Veil, executive director of the Ohio School-Based Health Alliance, praised a proposed $20,000,000 biennial appropriation to expand school-based health centers and asked the Senate to maintain the funding. Veil also requested a $1,000,000 appropriation over the biennium to create a statewide data hub managed by the Ohio School-Based Health Alliance to track reach, effectiveness and gaps across centers.
"School based health centers remove barriers by bringing health care directly into the school setting, ensuring students can access care without missing valuable classroom time," Veil told the committee. She said a data hub would improve care coordination, reduce administrative burden, and guide investments to underserved communities.
Mental-health and suicide-prevention witnesses, including Nancy Engelmiller of 1 in 5 and Austin Lucas of the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation, urged continued funding for prevention programming, teacher training and 988/crisis services. "For every $1 invested in home visiting programs, there's a return of up to $5.70," Family Connects advocate Emily Hosington said when describing postnatal home visits that can reduce ER visits and postpartum anxiety.
Witnesses urged the Senate to preserve the House budget's investments for school health centers, behavioral health prevention and crisis services in HB 96. No formal amendments or votes were recorded during the testimony; witnesses asked senators to retain the governor's or House funding levels for school-based health, mental health prevention, and related data infrastructure.
