Austin American-Statesman Editorial: Republicans' school safety plan is short on promised mental health aid

Expanding mental health care for Texas children became a rallying cry among Republican politicians in the days after the Uvalde school shooting, and in late June, they made it part of their plan to keep Texas schoolchildren safe. Unfortunately, it’s a small part. Just $10.5 million of the $105 million school safety plan announced by Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is earmarked for children’s mental health this year, with the rest planned for school security fortifications, including $50 million to buy bulletproof shields for police officers. Investing more in children’s mental health could help prevent school shootings while helping to improve the lives of countless Texas kids. In many school shooting cases, the perpetrators are young males who were bullied, isolated or showed signs of anti-social behavior that might have been addressed with earlier mental health intervention. The profile of the 18-year-old shooter in Uvalde reportedly checked all those boxes.

A new report by Texas Cares for Children, a nonprofit advocacy group based in Austin, reveals a decade-long deterioration in the mental health ofyoung Texans, and shows an urgent need for expanded mental health services. The report found that from 2009 to 2019, the number of Texas high school students reporting they had attempted suicide jumped 35 percent. Between 2015 and 2022, rates of major depression among Texas youth soared by 73 percent. More than 2,600 Texas children are waiting for mental health services through the state’s YES Waiver program. The report also warns that federal funding for youth mental health services provided during the pandemic is expiring, which will leave more gaps in care for kids in Texas. During the past two legislative sessions, state lawmakers from both parties approved bills to provide additional mental health counseling for Texas youth, including expanded access to tele-mental health services and a requirement that community mental health centers dedicate a counselor as a resource for school districts. We applaud those efforts, but the state needs to do more. Texas lawmakers should not only direct money to help those students most at risk for violent behavior as the $10.5 million set-aside in the governor's school safety plan for2022 does, but also expand accessduring the upcoming legislative session to services that help other Texas children battle depression, suicidal thoughts and other harmful impulses.