Strike everything after the enacting clause and insert the following:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. "(1) The legislature finds that suicide is the second leading cause of death in Washington for youth ten to twenty-four years of age. The legislature acknowledges that most suicides are preventable and that early prevention within schools can help decrease the number of youth suicides. The legislature recognizes that schools can aid in the development of social and emotional foundations for students. The legislature intends to develop a training program for middle and high school staff and parents or guardians focused on developing students' social and emotional skills to help prevent youth suicide.
(2) The legislature is committed to investing in preventative strategies in schools to increase student mental health and well-being in order to support the education of our state's children. The legislature recognizes that responsible decision making, self-management, healthy relationship skills, and self and social awareness are among the tools students need. The legislature acknowledges that these essential skills help improve school climate and reduce bullying, discipline issues, dropout rates, and the educational opportunity gap at the same time as they increase mental well-being, student engagement, and academic performance.
Sec. 2. RCW 28A.310.500 and 2013 c 197 s 6 are each amended to read as follows:
(1) Each educational service district shall develop and maintain the capacity to offer training for educators and other school district staff on youth suicide screening and referral, and on recognition, initial screening, and response to emotional or behavioral distress in students, including but not limited to indicators of possible substance abuse, violence, and youth suicide. An educational service district may demonstrate capacity by employing staff with sufficient expertise to offer the training or by contracting with individuals or organizations to offer the training. Training may be offered on a fee-for-service basis, or at no cost to school districts or educators if funds are appropriated specifically for this purpose or made available through grants or other sources.
(2)(a) Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this specific purpose, Forefront at the University of Washington shall convene a one-day in-person training of student support staff from the educational service districts to deepen the staff's capacity to assist schools in their districts in responding to concerns about suicide. Educational service districts shall send staff members to the one-day in-person training within existing resources.
(b) Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this specific purpose, after establishing these relationships with the educational service districts, Forefront at the University of Washington must continue to meet with the educational service districts via videoconference on a monthly basis to answer questions that arise for the educational service districts, and to assess the feasibility of collaborating with the educational service districts to develop a multiyear, statewide rollout of a comprehensive school suicide prevention model involving regional trainings, on-site coaching, and cohorts of participating schools in each educational service district.
(c) Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this specific purpose, Forefront at the University of Washington must work to develop public-private partnerships to support the rollout of a comprehensive school suicide prevention model across Washington's middle and high schools.
(d) The comprehensive school suicide prevention model must consist of:
(i) School-specific revisions to safe school plans required under RCW 28A.320.125, to include procedures for suicide prevention, intervention, assessment, referral, reentry, and intervention and recovery after a suicide attempt or death;
(ii) Developing, within the school, capacity to train staff, teachers, parents, and students in how to recognize and support a student who may be struggling with behavioral health issues;
(iii) Improved identification such as screening, and response systems such as family counseling, to support students who are at risk;
(iv) Enhanced community-based linkages of support; and
(v) School selection of appropriate curricula and programs to enhance student awareness of behavioral health issues to reduce stigma, and to promote resilience and coping skills.
(e) Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this specific purpose, and by December 15, 2017, Forefront at the University of Washington shall report to the appropriate committees of the legislature, in accordance with RCW 43.01.036, with the outcomes of the educational service district trainings, any public-private partnership developments, and recommendations on ways to work with the educational service districts or others to implement suicide prevention.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. A new section is added to chapter 28A.300 RCW to read as follows:
(1) The office of the superintendent of public instruction shall create and maintain an online social and emotional training module for educators, administrators, and other school district staff. The module must be available by September 1, 2017.
(2) The training module must be based on the recommendations of the office of the superintendent of public instruction's 2016 report on comprehensive benchmarks for developmentally appropriate interpersonal and decision-making knowledge and skills of social and emotional learning.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. A new section is added to chapter 28A.300 RCW to read as follows:
(1) Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this specific purpose, the office of the superintendent of public instruction shall contract and partner with a state organization that educates about and advocates for access to social and emotional learning and skill development in Washington public schools, in order to build capacity, promote, and sustain a social and emotional learning collaborative to support implementation of the recommendations of the office of the superintendent of public instruction's 2016 report on comprehensive benchmarks for developmentally appropriate interpersonal and decision-making knowledge and skills of social and emotional learning. The purpose of this partnership is to identify, test, and develop scalable, cost-effective, and evidence-based approaches for increasing social and emotional learning in elementary, middle, and high schools, and for improving student outcomes.
(2) Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this specific purpose, the partner organization selected under subsection (1) of this section must establish relationships with educational service districts to assess the feasibility of collaborating to develop a multiyear, statewide rollout of a comprehensive social and emotional learning model. The partner organization must also work to develop public-private partnerships to support the rollout of comprehensive social and emotional learning across Washington's elementary, middle, and high schools.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. (1) School districts and educational service districts must report the following data to the office of the superintendent of public instruction:
(a) How many students are served by mental health services in each school, school district, or educational service district;
(b) How many of these students are participating in medicaid programs;
(c) How the mental health services are funded, including federal, state, and private sources;
(d) Information on who provides the mental health services, including district employees and contractors; and
(e) Any other available information related to student access and outcomes.
(2) The office of the superintendent of public instruction must compile the data submitted under subsection (1) of this section into an inventory of the mental health service models available to students through schools, school districts, and educational service districts. By October 31, 2016, the office of the superintendent of public instruction must submit a report to the appropriate committees of the house of representatives and the senate, in accordance with RCW
43.01.036.
(3) This section expires August 1, 2017."
EFFECT: Adds language to the intent section.
Strikes language relating to requiring the Educational Service Districts (ESDs) to work with Forefront to develop a training program, and instead requires, subject to an appropriation, Forefront to convene one-day in-person trainings of ESD student support staff on responding to concerns about suicide.
Requires the ESDs to send staff to these trainings within existing resources.
Requires, subject to an appropriation, Forefront to assess the feasibility of developing a statewide rollout of a comprehensive school suicide prevention model, and developing public-private partnerships to support the rollout.
Requires, subject to an appropriation, that Forefront report to the Legislature on the outcomes of the ESD trainings, any public-private partnership developments, and recommendations on ways to work with ESDs or others to implement suicide prevention.
Requires, subject to an appropriation, the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to contract and partner with a state social and emotional learning (SEL) organization to build capacity, promote, and sustain a SEL collaborative to support implementation of certain benchmarks, including assessing the feasibility of developing a statewide rollout of a comprehensive SEL model, and developing public-private partnerships to support the rollout.