The Mississippi State Legislature passed Senate Bill 2727 during its 2024 regular session. This law establishes the Mississippi K-12 Mental Health Task Force for 2024. The law requires the Task Force to review and make recommendations to the legislature regarding available resources and gaps in resources to address students’ mental health in grades K-12 and through the community college and university systems.
The law states the specific duties of the task force are (quoted verbatim):
- Collect and analyze publicly available data and statistics related to the current state of student mental health, K-12 through the community college and university level.
- Explore the impact of trauma and mental health issues on student behavior, dropout and graduation rates, academic achievement, employment and related issues.
- Evaluate currently available resources for addressing student mental health including, but not limited to, partnerships with nonprofits or experts, telehealth opportunities, inpatient and outpatient resources.
- Review mental health training and professional development provided to K-12 school personnel and school personnel at community colleges and universities for classroom management, identification, referral, intervention and prevention.
- Evaluate successful strategies for addressing challenges in student mental health in Mississippi and across the nation.
- Review the current workforce landscapes as it relates to psychologists, nurses, counselors, behavior interventionists and others who work in schools, community colleges and universities, and consider strategies to recruit sufficient personnel if there are workforce strategies.
- Explore the effect of a multi-tiered wellness program that is conducive to growth, achievement, cultivating resilience, motivation and culturally sensitive personal development.
- Review any other matters related to the above issues or student mental health in Mississippi.
The Task Force held its first meeting on June 27.
The next meeting will be in July. We will share dates and times when they are confirmed. All meetings are open to the public. We appreciate Senator Nicole Boyd proposing a public comment period. We will share that information, too, when the task force finalizes it.
Joy Hogge, executive director of Families as Allies, is on the Task Force. If you want to share feedback or suggestions with her, email jhogge@faams.org.
Watch the video of the Mississippi legislature’s K-12 Mental Health Task Force meeting:
