The K-12 Mental Health Task Force released its recommendations earlier in October. You can read the full report here. Legislators may use any or all of these recommendations to propose new laws in the 2025 legislative session.
- Expand funding for the MCOPS grant program
- Mandate all school districts to implement policies prohibiting the use of social media, cell phones, smart watches, and other technology unrelated to classroom learning during classroom instruction.
- Mandate Mental Health First Aid training, updated and approved by the Mississippi Department of Mental Health, for all teachers and administrators beginning in the 2025-2026 school year.
- Mandate all 6th and 9th grade students upon entering middle and high school receive an orientation about support services offered at the school. Mandate all public community colleges and institutions of higher learning conduct orientation for new students about support services on campus.
- Create an internet-based mental health resource guide at the state level and school district level and designate personnel to maintain the resource guide.
- Create a loan repayment program for licensed counselors, school psychologists, and adolescent psychologist/psychiatrists with an incentive to serve in low-performing schools.
They also recommended continuing the committee into the 2025 legislative session.
We encourage you to contact your state senator and representative if you have feedback about any of these recommendations. If you do not know who they are, you can enter your address at this link, and it will tell you who represents you in the state’s upper and lower chambers. The lower chamber is the Mississippi House of Representatives, and the upper chamber is the Mississippi Senate.
You can find your representative’s contact information here and your senator’s contact information at this link. This fall, before the session begins in 2025, is an excellent time to contact them.
