Legislative Update

 US Forum, Bev Johns

S. 4041, The CARE for Student Mental Health Act. 

Senators Cornyn, Sinema, Tillis, Tester, and Hassan introduced on March 21, 2024, S4041, The CARE for Student Mental Health Act.  This proposed legislation broadens access to competitive mental health grants distributed by the U.S. Department of Education to ensure high-need, low-capacity districts and students in geographically isolated areas can benefit.

It targets funding to high-needs districts and alters how the Department alerts districts to mental health funding opportunities.  It also authorizes and streamlines the Strengthening the Pipeline of School-Based Mental Health Services Providers grant (formerly named MHSP) which supports partnerships between Institutions of Higher Education and LEAs to increase the number of properly trained school based mental health service professionals.

 The bill also authorizes the School Based Mental Health Services Program (SBMH) that assists high need LEAs to recruit, hire, and retain school based mental health personnel for students to remain healthy, engaged, and safe at school.

Final 2024 Federal Appropriations

As you are aware, Congress passed and President Biden signed the Final 2024 Appropriations Bill.  Funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would increase to $9.2 billion, a $4.5 million bump. This funding includes Autism surveillance, early detection programs, and drowning and suicide prevention programs.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration received $7.4 billion, including $520 million for the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, an $18 million increase from fiscal 2023. 

Where Are All the Kids?

At the December meeting of the US Forum Legislative Subcommittee, the topic of the rising rates of chronic absenteeism during the 2022-2023 academic year was discussed. Though teacher retention and compensation are still major issues for educators, the decline in consistent student attendance in K-12 classrooms has been noted by school administrators and policy experts as a significant threat to the achievement of all students (Blad, 2023).

In addition to the rising rates of infrequent attendance across the US, an even greater concern that was discussed is the number of students who never returned to school following the pandemic.  As reported by Health News, Florida, an analysis by The Associated Press, and Stanford University Education professor, Thomas Dee, the US has an estimated 240,000 students in 21 states whose absences have not been accounted for. These students did not move out of state, nor did they sign up for private school or home-school, according to publicly available data (2023, Health News, Florida). In California, 87,000 students are unaccounted for (D’Souza, 2023). Along with California, New York and Louisiana have the highest concentration of unaccounted students in the nation.

Data from the studies suggest several reasons for this high rate of unaccounted students across the nation (2023, Attendance Works; 2022, Office of Elementary and Secondary Schools). These include students who are undocumented and fear deportation, students who may be home schooled without providing notice to their school district, students whose families are experiencing homelessness, or have responsibilities of caring for family members or siblings, transportation barriers and lack of parental engagement.

At the current rate, there will be a half million students who will be chronically absent from school in 2031-2032. Proposed federal legislation such as HR 744, (Mental Health of Educators and Staff Act), address this crisis with funds for sensitivity training, on campus family resource centers, and additional resource officers and attendance officers.

Subcommittee members Francoise Bell and Sheila Gaiser shared that Hawaii and California have family resource centers and resource officers who work on ways to bring the community together, thereby increasing the likelihood of regular attendance in school. At the next meeting   the Legislative Committee will focus on the role and importance of the school resource officer and attendance officer and will have a guest speaker on this topic.

Sources:  www.chalkbeat.org, ed.gov, www.azed.gov, calmatters.org,  edweek.org

Aloha! Gamma Chapter is extremely grateful for all the heartfelt words of support for Maui and offers for donations to assist the many in need. The road to recovery will be long and time is needed to answer the many questions about the path to rebuilding Lahaina. 

Other chapters near and far have been asking what they can do to help those in need and there are so many organizations coordinating relief efforts.  Our recommendations for donations include the following:
General donations can be made to:https://www.hawaiicommunityfoundation.org/strengthening/maui-strong-fund
https://mauiunitedway.org/ 
https://www.redcross.org/donate/donation.html/ (be sure to select Hawaii Wildfires)
https://mauifoodbank.org/

Donations for Maui Schools can be made via Public Schools of Hawaiʻi Foundation to:https://pshf.org/donations-page/
Donations can be made directly to teachers affected via the HSTA website who has vetted these requests and continues to update:https://www.hsta.org/news/recent-stories/donate-to-teachers-affected-by-maui-wildfires/

Those who wish to contribute money towards the Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association’s Maui fire relief effort may send checks in any amount to HSTA. Money donated will be provided directly to our educator members impacted by the wildfires. Please make your check out to HSTA and send it to HSTA Attn: Maui Fire Relief, 1200 Ala Kapuna St., Honolulu, HI 96819.  HSTA is not a 501(c)(3) and any donation is NOT tax deductible.

You can also download the Purposity app to identify actual needs of DOE students in Maui who need specific items to go to school due to the Maui fires and in general. Once you download the app, go to "Orgs" and look for Hawaii Public Schools. This has been a verified partnership through the DOE prior to the fires.

Three of our Gamma sisters from Lahaina were impacted by the fires and Gamma Chapter will be targeting our financial assistance directly to these three families. Other chapters or individuals are welcome to contribute if interested. We ask that any donations for our three families to be received by Friday, Sept 30 if possible but we will be sure to forward all donations received to the families.
Please be sure to identify your donation as a chapter or individual along with the name of chapter you belong to. Checks should be made out to DKG Gamma Chapter and can be mailed to: 

Cindy Asato-Kochi

1011 Haiku Rd

Haiku, HI  96708
- Or - donations can be sent via Venmo: @Cindy-Asato-Kochi

We hope that 3 of the 4 Lahaina schools will be able to reopen soon but there is still work to be done for that to happen. Meanwhile, families are encouraged to enroll their children in other schools or in our State Distance Learning Program. We await to hear the needs of these schools/programs. There will be other opportunities for assisting with future needs as they arise so please know that your support is welcome now or later down the long road recovery ahead of Maui.

Thank you so very much for your continued prayers and love for Maui!

Mahalo,

françoise Bell (she/her/elle)

Update on HR 744: “Supporting the Mental Health of Educators and

Staff Act of 2023.”

WSO DKG passed a resolution in 2022 to advocate for legislation to improve mental health services

for educators and other school staff. At the same time, the DKG U.S. Forum passed a similar resolution.

Work by Oregon and Washington members resulted in a bill (H.R. 744) being introduced to Congress in

February 2023 by Oregon Representative Suzanne Bonamici. The bill was referred to the House

Subcommittee on Health. Since then, Representative Bonamici has been successfully working on

obtaining bi-partisan support for the bill known as “Supporting the Mental Health of Educators and Staff

Act of 2023.”

In July 2023, a companion bill (S. 2530) was introduced to the Senate by Senator Robert Casey of

Pennsylvania. It has been referred to the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.

In early October, we were informed that Representative Derek Kilmer of the Washington 6 th

Congressional District has become a co-sponsor of H.R. 744. Progress is being made, albeit slowly.

H.R. 744 established grants and requires other activities to improve the mental health of education

professionals and other school staff. It calls for a campaign to encourage staff to seek support and

treatment and will help reduce the stigma associated with getting help. It also calls for the dissemination

of best practices to prevent suicide and improve mental health resiliency for educators and other

school staff.

“ While this bill is not generously funded ($10M), it is a step in the right direction in that it recognizes

the need to provide mental health support to educators and it promotes the dissemination of best

practices for building resiliency,” according to Pat Bennett-Forman, WSO representative to the U.S.

Forum and a member of the Forum task force on mental health. “These bills are an important first step,”

she added, “but in order to get them passed into legislation, our members will need to step up in terms

of contacting their Congressional representatives.”

Bennett-Forman outlined several opportunities that interested members could take to promote the

legislation, including: (1) contacting Congressional Representatives to have them become co-sponsors

and to encourage them to help move this bill to the vote; (2) writing our senators in favor of S. 2530,

urging its passage; (3) writing our elected officials who have signed on to thank them for their support.

A complete list of co-sponsors and information about the bill may be found at the Congress web site:

www.congress.gov. This web site will also allow one to identify your district and the name of your

representative so that they may be contacted via email. All you have to do is enter your address, click on

the name of your representative and, under contact me, click on send an email.

Bennett-Forman and other members of the Washington State Education Policy and Legislation

committee would be happy to assist members with samples of communications and other assistance for

contacting legislators. She can be reached at p.bennettformandkgwa@gmail.com.The Legislative Update Committee meets once a month for in-depth study and analysis of state and federal legislation. August’s discussion was about teacher pay. States were compared and contrasted, and the federal Teach Pay Act introduced into Congress by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and endorsed by President Joe Biden was studied.

Next month: Preparing for an Informative Member Zoom focused on issues teacher shortages and teacher pay in November. The sameness and the difference among the states and what the federal government suggests are the topics.

For more information or to use your voice, use the take action button, contact us or email chiscottsdale@gmail.com. It is not too late to join the DKG US Forum’s subcommittee on Legislative Updates.;

August Discussion from the Legislative Update Committee:

California Member Sheila Gaiser explained the NEA Annual Report. NEA’s website has research material about the difference between states with collective bargaining and the RIght to Work States. The NEA reported that teachers’ salaries increased about 2.5% while others in the workplace increased 4%. In dollar terms, teachers earned $29 more last year compared to other employees who earned about $400 over the year. It is factual, that teachers’ salaries are lagging behind the cost of living and inflation. Another noted difference among teacher salaries within education and the states, rural areas pay less than urban. One explanation is the cost of living is higher in urban places. Another explanation was the urban areas have a higher tax base than rural areas. For instance, in Los Angeles, the average salary is $57K and in San Francisco, the average salary is $67K. A rural district north of San Francisco, averages $60K a year.

The states with the highest teacher salaries (averages are reported) are:

New York: $80K

Illinois: $70K (Bev Johns discussed the huge difference in salaries among the rural area in the south and the wealthy suburbs of Chicago)

Michigan: $70K

Pennsylvania: $70K

Washington State: $69K

The states with the least teacher salaries (averages are reported) are:

Hawaii: $48K ( high cost of living, but feeling of teaching in paradise becomes an issue)

Maine: $49K

South Dakota: $50K

Florida: $50K

District of Columbia: $50K

Two Acts in Congress: American Teacher Act: H.R.882 and S.766: Pay Teachers Act

American Teacher Act (HR 882) was introduced into the house 2/08/2023 by Florida Rep. Frederica S Wilson. The bill establishes grants to increase the minimum salary of public school teachers. The act also authorizes a national campaign regarding the value of the teaching profession. If passed as is, the Dept of Education will be directed to award 4-year grants to states and sub-grants to local communities to adjust the minimum salary to 60K and to be adjusted annually using colas for these teachers. The bill will authorize the Dept. of Ed to carry out a national campaign to increase awareness about the importance of teachers and value the profession, encourage secondary and college students to considering teaching as a profession, and diversify the pool of inividuals who enter the teaching profession. The bill is in the House Comittee on Education and the Workplace.

Pay Teachers Act (S.766) was introduced by Vermont Senator Bernard Sanders on 3/9/2023. It is in the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. Sanders wrote in the bill the NEA statistic that 40% of the nation’s teachers earn less than $40K a year. This bill is to help raise the annual teacher salaries to at least $60K and teachers are paid liveable wage. In this bill there are significant federal investments in public schools and in support staff. Mandatory are: Triple Title 1-A funding; Triple Rural Education program funding; increase grants and joint ventures with organization who prepare teachers for the profession, and support funding for special education, support and fund SEED and School Leader Incentive Program. There is more federal help to states to increase the salaries and value the profession.

Next Legislative Update Committee meeting is Wed., Sept 20 at 7 PM eastern

FROM THE NY TIMES: POVERTY IN AMERICA is On THE Rise: Read the analysis by Ben Casselman and Lydia DePillis

By Ben Casselman and Lydia DePillis

Sept. 12, 2023

Poverty increased sharply last year in the United States, particularly among children, as living costs rose and federal programs that provided aid to families during the pandemic were allowed to expire.

The poverty rate rose to 12.4 percent in 2022 from 7.8 percent in 2021, the largest one-year jump on record, the Census Bureau said Tuesday. Poverty among children more than doubled, to 12.4 percent, from a record low of 5.2 percent the year before. Those figures are according to the Supplemental Poverty Measure, which factors in the impact of government assistance and geographical differences in the cost of living.

The increases followed two years of historically large declines in poverty, driven primarily by safety net programs that were created or expanded during the pandemic. Those included a series of direct payments to households in 2020 and 2021, enhanced unemployment and nutrition benefits, increased rental assistance and an expanded child tax credit, which briefly provided a guaranteed income to families with children.