HB2093

THE CONTEXT: Laws 2021, Chapter 445 directs SBE, when adopting course of study and competency requirements for common schools and high schools, to require that all health education instruction include mental health instruction. Mental health instruction may be delivered in a health course or another existing course and must incorporate the multiple dimensions of health by including mental health and the relationship of physical and mental health to enhance student understanding, social and emotional learning, attitudes and behavior that promote health and well-being.

WHAT THE BILL DID: The final vetoed version would delete language that requires mental health instruction to incorporate the multiple dimensions of health by including mental health and the relationship of physical and mental health to enhance student understanding, social and emotional learning, attitudes and behavior that promote health and well-being and repeals, on January 1, 2037, statute that directs SBE, when adopting course of study and competency requirements for common schools and high schools, to require that all health education instruction include mental health instruction.

WHY IT MATTERED: The practical reason for this bill was to give patients, families, and providers a clearer legal standard for mental health instruction requirement. It would delete language that requires mental health instruction to incorporate the multiple dimensions of health by including mental health and the relationship of physical and mental health to enhance student understanding, social and emotional learning, attitudes and behavior that promote health and well-being, and would also repeals, on January 1, 2037, statute that directs SBE, when adopting course of study and competency requirements for common schools and high schools, to require that all health education instruction include mental health instruction, rather than leave the current rule unchanged.