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Board holds public hearing on Jake’s Law policy; action deferred to July 23
Summary
The board held a public hearing on district policy required under Arizona's Jake's Law, which creates a Children's Behavioral Health Services Fund and requires districts to adopt certain referral and opt-in procedures before making school-based referrals. Staff said the board will return on July 23 for further review and possible adoption.
The Maricopa Unified School District governing board on July 9 conducted a public hearing on a proposed policy required by Arizona's Jake's Law, which establishes the Children’s Behavioral Health Services Fund and sets requirements for school-based referrals for behavioral-health services.
Miss Pastore (policy staff) said Jake’s Law (passed by the Arizona Legislature in 2020) creates an $8,000,000 state allocation to cover behavioral-health services for uninsured or underinsured students referred through schools. She told the board that before districts may make referrals to Access or other contracted providers they must adopt policies that include an annual parental opt-in process, a parent survey after services, a list of participating providers on the district website and annual reporting of survey results to Access.
Board members and the public used the hearing as an opportunity to ask clarifying questions. Staff said the district will return to the July 23 board meeting for additional review and possible adoption of the proposed policy (agenda item referenced as policy 5411). No adoption occurred during the July 9 hearing.
The public hearing was opened and adjourned by board action.
