Writing at heartland.org, Kenneth Artz explains a New York that will take effect this fall:
A state law enacted in 2016 requires government schools to include mental health education in K-12 curricula. Local districts are required to develop lesson plans under guidance from the state Mental Health Education Advisory Council.
Will other states follow? Arts covers a variety of angles and assessments, including from our Terry Stoops:
“This is the typical one-size-fits-all-approach to a problem that will only affect a fraction of the number of students with mental health issues of varying severity. And I’m worried other states are going to follow New York state’s lead and take the same type of approach by incorporating a comprehensive mental health curriculum into the public school system.”
‘Choice Has a Role’
Stoops says school choice would provide a better solution.
“I think educational choice has a role here,” Stoops said. “Giving parents the resources to send their children to schools that specialize in the identification and treatment of mental illness would allow the states to focus resources on those who would benefit the most.
“In a state like New York, it’s doubtful that school choice would ever be considered a solution for these sorts of problems, but other states hopefully will find school choice to be one of the avenues to finding a solution to this problem,” Stoops said.