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Committee hears limits on full roll‑out of high‑school mental‑health units; department recommends block grant instead
Summary
Committee members pressed department staff about implementation and funding of mental‑health units required by recent bills. The department recommended a $5 million high‑school block grant rather than immediate full implementation of years 1 and 2 of high‑school units, and included $8.4 million for elementary and middle unit growth.
Department staff told the Joint Finance Committee that funding requests tied to recent mental‑health legislation would not be fully implemented for high schools in the coming fiscal year. The presenter explained the department's recommendation to fund elementary and middle school mental‑health units for enrollment growth and provide a block grant for high schools instead of fully funding prescribed unit roll‑outs.
Kylie said the original statutory requests would fully fund elementary, middle and high school mental‑health units. “The elementary and middle school units have already been fully implemented. So the dollars that are allocated there are just for unit growth, and salary adjustments for those employees. But the high school mental health units have not yet been fully implemented,” Kylie said. She explained that instead of funding the full $11,326,700 identified in the departmental materials, the recommended package includes a $5,000,000 block grant for high‑school services and $8,407,500 for elementary and middle school unit growth, bringing the department’s recommended increase for mental health to $13,407,500.
Senator Hansen asked for clarification on the $11.3 million that was shown as not recommended; staff replied that the department proposed the block‑grant approach as a phased implementation. Representative Buxton and other members asked about the cumulative fiscal effect of the suite of mental‑health bills; staff summarized historic fiscal notes, saying full implementation previously had been estimated at roughly $10 million (elementary), $22 million (middle) and $33 million (high school) based on the bills' initial fiscal notes but that those figures have changed with pay and enrollment trends.
Committee members pressed staff on how a $5,000,000 high‑school block grant would be distributed and on whether it would be sufficient to support the statutory ratios. Staff said the block grant would be distributed using department formulas but cautioned it would fund only a portion of the statutory requirements if the full roll‑out were enacted. No formal committee decision was made at the hearing.
