There is an overwhelming amount of proposed legislation dealing with mental health, behavioral health and social emotional learning (SEL) in public schools this session in Washington State.
A bipartisan bill has been introduced in the House. HB 1590, which aims to integrate [more] self-resiliency and social-emotional learning (SEL) into our public schools.
The bill encourages schools to teach skills like self-awareness, self-management, and social engagement under the guise of improving student outcomes. It allocates funding for these programs, prioritizing schools in high-poverty areas or those identified as "high risk" for youth suicide. In states like Florida, SEL is “banned”, however, the “Florida Resiliency Toolkit” is SEL by another name. It appears that perhaps a national re-branding may be rolling out.
With schools taking on more roles in mental health, there's an increased risk to student privacy. Mental health data is sensitive, and the government's involvement in collecting and managing this information could lead to breaches of privacy or misuse of data for political purposes. Parents should be the primary guardians of such personal information about their children, not state institutions. The legislature is also preparing to repeal the “Parents’ Bill of Rights” (I-2081) which will mean that parents will not have access to their child’s mental health records and services will be rendered without parental consent or notification.
There’s no fiscal note attached to the bill yet, but this bill commits to funding these initiatives through 2030. This would add MORE education funding. The schools are failing Washington students, yet every year they come back to the taxpayers taking more money, promising better results and things just get worse.
We will keep you posted on the status of this bill and let you know how you can take action when it starts moving through the legislature.
TAKE ACTION!
This Wednesday, February 5, the Washington state senate will vote on SB 5181 which repeals the most critical parts of the Parents Bill of Rights, I-2081.
Please send your senator a message asking them to VOTE NO on SB 5181.
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