HB24: HB24 School Behavioral Health Support Act; enact

Georgia schools currently have no dedicated state grant program to connect students with mental health or substance use treatment on site. House Bill 24, called the School Behavioral Health Support Act, would direct the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities to set up a school-linked behavioral health grant program, subject to the legislature actually providing funding for it. The grants would go to community service boards, community mental health centers, licensed mental health or substance use treatment providers, and Medicaid providers with licensed staff serving children and families. Grant money could pay for identifying and diagnosing student needs, delivering treatment (including telehealth), helping families navigate health, social service, and juvenile justice systems, transportation outside school hours, staff training, and telehealth equipment. Grantees must first seek other insurance or payment sources (not counting the local school system) but must still serve all students regardless of ability to pay, and must report data back to the department.

• Creates a new school-linked behavioral health grant program inside the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, contingent on available funding.
• Defines which organizations can apply for grants, including community service boards, community mental health centers, and certain licensed or Medicaid providers.
• Lists allowable uses of grant money, such as diagnosing student mental health needs, delivering telehealth treatment, transportation, and staff training.
• Requires grant recipients to pursue other insurance or payment sources first, but bars them from turning away students who cannot pay.
• Requires grantees to collect and submit data to the department so the program's results can be measured.

K-12 public school students with mental health or substance use needs and their families, community service boards, community mental health centers, licensed mental health providers, Medicaid providers serving children, local school systems, and the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, which would run the program.

If funded, the bill would give schools a state-backed way to bring mental health and substance use treatment, including telehealth, directly to students, potentially reaching kids who lack other access to care. Because funding depends on future budget decisions, the program's actual reach would hinge on what the General Assembly appropriates.

• Section 1 names the bill the 'School Behavioral Health Support Act.'
• Section 2 adds new Code Section 37-1-30, defining 'mental health or substance use disorder' as mental illness or addictive disease.
• Subsection (b) makes the grant program subject to available state funding rather than guaranteeing it.
• Subsection (c) limits eligible grant applicants to four categories of community and licensed providers.
• Subsection (d) lists allowable grant activities, including diagnosis, treatment, family support, transportation, staff training, and telehealth equipment costs.
• Subsection (e) requires grantees to seek third-party reimbursement first (excluding local school systems as a source) while still serving all students regardless of ability to pay.
• Subsection (f) requires grantees to report data to the department to evaluate the program's effectiveness.
• Section 3 repeals conflicting laws.

1. 2025-02-11House Withdrawn Bill/Res Consideration (House)
2. 2025-01-15House Second Readers (House)
3. 2025-01-14House First Readers (House)
4. 2025-01-13House Hopper (House)

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

• school mental health
• student behavioral health
• substance use treatment
• telehealth in schools
• state grant programs