Bill Text: NH SB151 | 2024 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Relative to mental health education.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 12-4)
Status: (Engrossed) 2024-01-04 - Reconsider SB151 (Rep. Sweeney): Motion Failed Regular Calendar 183-187 01/03/2024 House Journal 1 P. 113 [SB151 Detail]
Download: New_Hampshire-2024-SB151-Amended.html
SB 151-FN - AS AMENDED BY THE SENATE
03/09/2023 0636s
2023 SESSION
23-0811
07/05
SENATE BILL 151-FN
AN ACT relative to mental health education.
SPONSORS: Sen. Watters, Dist 4; Sen. Chandley, Dist 11; Sen. Fenton, Dist 10; Sen. Whitley, Dist 15; Sen. D'Allesandro, Dist 20; Sen. Rosenwald, Dist 13; Sen. Avard, Dist 12; Sen. Perkins Kwoka, Dist 21; Sen. Soucy, Dist 18; Sen. Lang, Dist 2; Sen. Altschiller, Dist 24; Sen. Prentiss, Dist 5; Sen. Pearl, Dist 17; Rep. McMahon, Rock. 17; Rep. Schapiro, Ches. 16; Rep. Cornell, Hills. 22
COMMITTEE: Education
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ANALYSIS
This bill expands the adequate education standards to include mental health education and provides rulemaking authority to the department of education to accommodate this change.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
03/09/2023 0636s 23-0811
07/05
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty Three
AN ACT relative to mental health education.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Adequate Public Education; Criteria; Mental Health. Amend RSA 193-E:2, VI to read as follows:
VI. Sound wellness, mental health, and environmental practices, including outdoor recreation, to enable them to enhance their own well-being, as well as that of others.
2 Adequate Public Education; Substantive Educational Content of an Adequate Education; Mental Health Education. Amend RSA 193-E:2-a, I(a)(7) to read as follows:
(7) Health [and], wellness, and mental health education, including a policy for violations of RSA 126-K:8, I(a).
3 New Subparagraph; Adequate Public Education; Substantive Educational Content of an Adequate Education; Rulemaking Authority. Amend RSA 193-E:2-a, V by inserting after subparagraph (b) the following new subparagraph:
(c) The department of education shall adopt rules, pursuant to RSA 541-A, on the provision of mental health curriculum identified in paragraph I of this section, including a consideration of the following: bullying and cyberbullying; suicide prevention; biological, social, and environmental influences on mental health; mental health disorders, including, but not limited to, anxiety, depression, panic attacks, obsessive-compulsive disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and unhealthy behaviors; relationship of mental health and substance misuse; mental health coping strategies, including personal practices and relationships; mental health treatment information; and skills to recognize personal mental health issues in themselves in peers.
4 Electronically Available Curriculum. The department of education shall make available electronically model curriculum on mental health education.
5 State Board of Education; Duties of the State Board of Education; Exception for Mental Health Curriculum. Amend RSA 186:11, IX-c to read as follows:
IX-c. Require School Districts to Adopt a Policy Allowing an Exception to Specific Course Material Based on a Parent's or Legal Guardian's Determination that the Material is Objectionable. Such policy shall include a provision requiring the parent or legal guardian to notify the school principal or designee in writing of the specific material to which they object and a provision requiring an alternative agreed upon by the school district and the parent, at the parent's expense, sufficient to enable the child to meet state requirements for education in the particular subject area. The policy shall also require the school district or classroom teacher to provide parents and legal guardians not less than 2 weeks advance notice of curriculum course material used for instruction of human sexuality or human sexual education. The policy shall address the method of delivering notification to a parent or legal guardian. To the extent practicable, a school district shall make curriculum course materials available to parents or legal guardians for review upon request. The name of the parent or legal guardian and any specific reasons disclosed to school officials for the objection to the material shall not be public information and shall be excluded from access under RSA 91-A. This paragraph shall specifically apply to any course material on mental health.
6 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.
23-0811
Amended 4/14/23
SB 151-FN- FISCAL NOTE
AS AMENDED BY THE SENATE (AMENDMENT #2023-0636s)
AN ACT relative to mental health education.
FISCAL IMPACT: [ X ] State [ ] County [ ] Local [ ] None
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STATE: | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | FY 2026 | |
Appropriation | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | |
Revenue | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | |
Expenditures | $0 | Indeterminable Increase (Minimum of $100,000 per year) | |||
Funding Source: | [ X ] General [ ] Education [ ] Highway [ ] Other | ||||
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LOCAL: |
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Revenue | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | |
Expenditures | $0 | Indeterminable | Indeterminable | Indeterminable | |
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METHODOLOGY:
This bill expands the adequate education standards to include mental health education and requires the Department of Education make available electronically a model curriculum on mental health education. The Department states it is unclear if the expectation is that it would procure curriculum (or multiple curricula) or if such comprehensive curricula that covers all the various topics described in the law already exists. To this extent, the Department states this bill’s impact on state expenditures is indeterminable, however expected to be a minimum of $100,000 per year.
The Department states this bill may have an impact on local expenditures, however specific costs would vary across school districts and therefore cannot be estimated.
AGENCIES CONTACTED:
Department of Education
