Texas schools don't have enough mental health providers. As leaders fail to fix it, kids suffer

[LetMyPeopleVote]

The Houston Chronicle won some awards for this series. Greg is an asshole and knows that there are not sufficient resources available in Texas to provide mental health services to the students who need these services

Link to tweet

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/investigations/in-crisis/article/Texas-schools-mental-health-kids-students-help-17028620.php?utm_campaign=CMS%20Sharing%20Tools%20(Premium)&utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=referral

A Chronicle analysis of staffing at all 1,200 public school and open-enrollment charter districts in Texas during the 2020-2021 school year found that:

The vast majority – 98 percent – of students attended districts that did not meet the Texas Education Agency’s recommendation of one counselor per 250 students.

The Texas Model for Comprehensive Counseling Programs, which schools must use to build their counseling program, sets a lower recommendation – one counselor per 350 students. Still, less than 3 percent of students attended districts that met that standard.

The National Association of School Psychologists recommends one psychologist per 500 students. Just 25 districts met that standard.

Only four districts met the 250 students per social worker standard recommended by the National Association of Social Workers.

Two-thirds of districts failed to meet the ratio of one nurse per 750 students, as recommended by the National Association of School Nurses.

......The state does not provide districts funding specifically earmarked for hiring these four positions. Districts have to cobble together resources from federal, state and local revenue, as well as partnerships with philanthropic organizations.

“While the state provides recommendations for appropriate staffing ratios in a variety of areas, ultimately it is local school system leadership that decide to allocate funds for any given position,” the TEA said in a statement. “School systems have tended to prioritize teaching positions. With more teaching positions, less funds remain for other positions.”