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This letter provides information to school officials and superintendents regarding a required survey designed by the Collaborative Task Force on Public School Mental Health.ÌýÌý

BackgroundÌý

The 86th Texas Legislature charged TEA inÌýÌýto develop a Mental Health Task Force to study and evaluate mental health services that are funded by the state and provided at a school district or open-enrollment charter school directly to a student, parent or family member, or employee. Per TEC, §38.307, each school district and open-enrollment charter school (local educational agency or LEA) must respond to the required survey designed by the Collaborative Task Force on Public School Mental Health.Ìý Ìý

OverviewÌý

This survey intends to gather information related to systems of services and support for mental and behavioral health in each LEA as required of the Task Force by TEC, §§38.301-38.312. The survey includes inquiry about data elements in statute, needs, capacity, and student support staff reflection on school mental health best practices.

• The results will only be shared in aggregate at the state and regional levels.Ìý
• The results will not be used in any way to evaluate an LEA.Ìý
• Survey results will be summarized in a report to the Texas Legislature, along with recommendations on school mental health capacity from the Task Force.Ìý
• LEA participation is required by statuteÌý

The Ë¿¹ÏÊÓƵ (TEA) is disseminating this survey pursuant to the agency’s statutory role to support the Task Force. TEA will store all data in accordance with the agency’s information security plan, Records Retention Schedule, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and any applicable state statutes.Ìý

It is recommended that school/campus principals convene and engage the appropriate student support multidisciplinary team to collaboratively respond in each LEA, consistent with Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) best practices.Ìý

Action RequiredÌý

Superintendents should designate the campus/school administrators to work with school multidisciplinary teams with awareness and oversight of mental and behavioral health-related programs and processes to facilitateÌýcompleting the online survey by May 23, 2024.ÌýÌýÌý

• Access theÌý.ÌýÌý
• To assist school teams with gathering information to respond to the survey questions,ÌýÌýis available on the Texas School Mental HealthÌý.Ìý ÌýÌý
• Survey responses must be submitted byÌýMay 23, 2024.Ìý

Please review the survey byÌýApril 11, 2024,ÌýandÌý.ÌýÌý

The Task Force will collect questions received by April 11 and post responses to those questions by April 15 on the Texas School Mental HealthÌý.Ìý Ìý

If you have additional questions while working on the survey, please email or call the School Mental Health Task Force Chair Tracy Spinner directly atÌýtracyspinner@daybreakhealth.com.

Resources

For more information on the Task Force and TEA guidance on school mental health, please access the resources below on theÌý

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