HB20: HB20 State Board of Education; adopt rules to require all certified public school personnel to receive annual training in depression and suicide awareness and prevention

Georgia law already touches on suicide prevention training for school staff, but this bill rewrites O.C.G.A. § 20-2-779.1 to make the State Board of Education, rather than the Department of Education, responsible for adopting rules requiring all certificated public school personnel to receive annual training in depression and suicide awareness and prevention. The bill also creates the Student Mental Health Screenings Grant Program, subject to available state funding, to help local school systems screen students in grades six through 12 for depression and suicide risk. It sets rules for how local school systems apply for grants, how screenings must protect student privacy and get parental consent, and how results trigger same-day intervention. The Department of Education must develop a model policy, approved training materials, screening tool guidance, and telehealth guidance (the telehealth guidance is due by October 1, 2025). Local school systems must also adopt their own depression and suicide awareness policies. The bill keeps existing protections shielding schools from lawsuits over this training or screening.

• Shifts responsibility for adopting annual depression and suicide awareness training rules from the Department of Education to the State Board of Education.
• Creates the Student Mental Health Screenings Grant Program, funded subject to state appropriations, to help local school systems screen students in grades six through 12.
• Requires the Department of Education to develop a model student depression and suicide awareness policy, approved training materials, and a list of research based screening tools.
• Requires the Department of Education to issue guidance by October 1, 2025 on using telehealth for student mental health and behavioral health services, covering consent, privacy, and liability.
• Requires local school systems that get grant funding to obtain written parental consent, protect student privacy, and forward only aggregated, non-identifying screening data to the state.
• Keeps in place a legal shield saying no one can sue over the training or screenings required or their absence, and that they do not create a specific duty of care.

All certificated public school personnel in Georgia, who would need annual training; local school systems and the State School Superintendent, who administer grant applications; students in grades six through 12 who could be screened; their parents or guardians, who must consent; and the Department of Education and Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, which must develop guidance and materials.

If enacted, school staff statewide would get standardized annual training on spotting depression and suicide risk, and some districts could get state grant money to screen middle and high school students, potentially catching mental health problems earlier, while parents would gain new consent and notification rights tied to any screening.

• Section 1 gives the bill the short title the 'Student Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Act.'
• Section 2 lists legislative findings on teen depression rates and suicide as the third leading cause of death among teenagers.
• Section 3 revises O.C.G.A. § 20-2-779.1 to make the State Board of Education, not the Department, responsible for the annual training rule for all certificated public school personnel.
• Section 3 authorizes the State Board of Education to establish the Student Mental Health Screenings Grant Program, subject to appropriations, aiming for geographic and urban/rural balance in awards.
• Section 3 requires the Department of Education, by October 1, 2025, to develop telehealth guidance covering provider qualifications, parental consent, data security, and liability.
• Section 3 requires the Department of Education, by January 1, 2026, to develop guidance helping local school systems partner with healthcare providers for mental health screenings.
• Section 3 requires local school systems seeking grants to detail their screening tools, consent processes, insurance accommodations, and parent notification procedures in their applications.
• Section 3 preserves language that no one may sue over the required training or screenings and that they create no specific duty of care.

1. 2025-01-15House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-01-14House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-01-13House Hopper (House)

• Sandra Scott (D, HD-076)Primary sponsor
• Kim Schofield (D, HD-063)
• Viola Davis (D, HD-087)

• student mental health
• suicide prevention
• school staff training
• teacher training requirements
• education funding