Students in California may soon have the option of taking a mental health day.
Senate bill 849, written by the California state senator Anthony Portantino, would allow students time out of school to treat or attend to mental health needs without risk of being considered truant, an infraction that could lead to penalties for students and fines for parents.
Portantino, whose brother committed suicide, said in a press release that a rising number of school-age children in California are struggling with depression, anxiety or thoughts of self-harm and that he hopes the bill would make it easier for students to ask for help.
“The whole focus of this effort is to reduce the stigma around seeking help and make this issue commonplace in conversations,” Portantino told the Guardian.
Other states, including Oregon, Florida and Utah, have taken similar steps to allow students time off for mental wellness.
Under California law, students are already excused from school for falling ill, going to medical or dental appointments, or attending funerals. The new bill would not increase the number of total days a student could miss, but it would add to the list of justified absences, excusing students “for the benefit of the mental or behavioral health of the pupil”.
Music Watson, spokeswoman for the San Diego office of education, which oversees and supports more than 40 school districts in southern California, said that her office is still waiting for specifics to emerge on the bill, but that it seems in line with a larger push to boost mental health support for students – an effort that the office of education has gotten behind.
“We want to make sure students get the help that they need, and have an obvious interest in helping reduce stigma and addressing the mental health issues youth are facing,” Watson said.
But she said one concern for education officials is whether the bill would create an incentive to miss school more often, which could have an impact on learning and even a school’s budget.
Because California schools receive funding based on student attendance, any absence, excused or not, means less money for schools.
Dr Mark Reinecke, a clinical director and psychologist with the Child Mind Institute, is broadly supportive of the bill, which he said reduces stigma and encourages young people to seek help, something that could offer long-term benefits.
For about three-quarters of adults who struggle with anxiety or obsessive-compulsive disorder, symptoms first appeared in childhood, he said. Seeking treatment earlier could be a way to head off future problems.
Yet, Reinecke cautions against what he said could be “unintended consequences” of the legislation, which could increase absenteeism or even worsen symptoms for students dealing with phobias and anxiety around school.
In 2016, about 8 million students in the US missed three or more weeks of school, absences that put students at risk of lower test scores and higher dropout rates. In California, a student who misses 10% of the school year – about 18 days – is considered chronically absent.
Missing school for any reason counts as lost instructional time, which tends to have particularly negative impact on young children, Reinecke said.
In short, the benefits of the bill would depend on how schools are implementing it.
“For most teens, missing school to seek treatment would be greatly beneficial, and I think that’s the way this bill is intended,” Reinecke said.
“But for children with school phobia or anxiety, missing school would be the last thing you want. It would magnify the problem.”
This isn’t the first time Portantino has taken the legislative lead on issues affecting children and families.
Last year, in an effort to give teenagers more sleep time, the lawmaker authored a bill to push back start times for high schools to 8.30am and middle schools to 8am or later. The bill was later signed into law.
Portantino acknowledges a need to iron out specifics on the mental health bill, but said the conversation itself underscores the need for clarity in the education code.
“If you sprain your ankle, we don’t ask how bad it is, or whether it justifies missing work or school. We trust the person to get evaluated and the doctor to come to an informed decision. We’re not talking about giving students an excuse to stay home – we’re talking about treating this illness as we would any other illness,” he said.
The bill is set to wind its way through the legislative process. If it survives, it could head to the governor’s desk in the fall and become law no sooner than January 2021.
