In 2019, 18 states enacted 34 bills that included the term "school psychologist" on a wide variety of topics. We have categorized and summarized these bills below.

Access to Mental Health in Schools/Social–Emotional Learning

Most of the enacted bills in 2019 legislative sessions that included school psychologists specifically were related to taking steps to increase access to mental health in schools. This took shape in a few different ways:

• New grant or pilot programs to increase access to behavioral health services in schools or training
  • Colorado enacted two programs to address mental health in schools: one pilot program to give each grade in a school access to a mental health professional, and for the professional to follow those students by grade to develop an ongoing relationship with them; and one that creates a matching grant with schools and appropriates $3 million
  • Utah enacted a new fund and formula to distribute money for qualified mental health personnel in schools 
  • Illinois approved a bill regarding inservice training, allowing training to include representatives from the existing Illinois Mental Health First Aid program
• New Task Forces/Committees
  • Maryland created a task force to study a specific County's social-emotional learning pilot program
  • Washington created a social–emotional learning committee and will incorporate social-emotional learning standards and benchmarks drafted by a previous work group, including new competencies in ACEs, mental health literacy, and antibullying
  • New Hampshire enacted a new school mental health commission to make recommendations for legislation
  • Nevada created a new work group to make nonbinding recommendations of ratios for school instructional support personnel
  • Illinois assigned an existing task force with school psychologist representation to identify anger management strategies
  • Connecticut established a new social and emotional learning and school climate advisory council and now requires each Board of Education to implement a safe school climate policy
  • Arkansas amended the composition of its Safe Schools Committee to include school psychologists
• Reporting
  • Maryland will now require annual reporting of school psychologist numbers and ratios to the Governor's office and committees in the legislature
  • North Carolina now requires reports of the number of school mental health professionals each year

School Safety

Unsurprisingly, school safety was a hot topic in 2019 among lawmakers. The following bills were passed that specifically included the term "school psychologist" within it:

• California approved a bill addressing lockdown drills and altering the membership of its statewide school safety committee
• Illinois now requires districts to create threat assessment teams
• Florida approved many of the recommendations from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Safety Commission in a sweeping school safety bill. Some aspects of the bill were controversial - including expanding the ability for districts to allow teachers to carry guns in classrooms, creating a school hardening/harm mitigation work group, and establishing a work group for a threat assessment database. Other sections of the bill evaluate mental health services in the state and require plans to reduce staff-to-student ratios; outline procedures for threat assessment and promote the use of a reporting tool; and required annual training under the active assailant response plans.
• Kentucky established school safety coordinators and gave school psychologists a seat on the Board of Directors for the state's School Safety Center
• Nevada established a statewide school safety commission and now requires a school safety specialist in each district
• Maryland amended the membership of its subcabinet school safety advisory board

Student Discipline

A few states passed bills relating to student discipline and restorative and juvenile justice:

• Illinois created a new grant program to implement restorative justice practices, hire personnel, or hold professional development
• Oregon approved a bill further addressing seclusion and restraint
• Colorado passed a bill to effectively ban out-of-school suspension for students in grades pre-K–2 except in specific circumstances
• Illinois passed a bill that requires a parent to be present if a student is being questioned by police, or else efforts must be made to have a school mental health professional there

School Psychology Profession

A few bills were also approved relating to the salary, licensure, and training of school psychologists:

• Colorado approved a bill for an additional stipend for school psychologists who obtain their NCSPs
• North Carolina approved a salary step-up for school psychologists
• Louisiana approved a bill that exempts school psychologists from following a certain licensing law
• California approved a bill clarifying supervision requirements of associates and trainees for educational psychologists

Miscellaneous Bills

• Maine banned school psychologists and any other licensed professionals from practicing conversion therapy
• Rhode Island now requires reporting of the number of bilingual school psychologists in English Language Learner programs
• Texas approved a bill declaring School Psychology Awareness Week in the state for 10 years
• Nevada passed a bill redefining the purpose and duties of school psychologists, school counselors, and school social workers
• Maryland passed new required literacy screenings and interventions for students
• Washington approved a bill related to increasing the educator workforce, including school psychologists

We encourage you to reach out to your state association leaders, who are often involved with drafting and advocating for/against legislation that impacts school psychologists locally, via the NASP Member Exchange's Advocacy and Public Policy Interest Group or through NASP leadership tools.

Here's to more successes for school psychologists in the 2020 legislative sessions!