MBUSD Joins Lawsuit to Prevent Cuts to Mental Health Services (CA)
November 18, 2010
Last month, the governor slashed funding for mental health services for special education students and suspended a state mandate to provide those services.
Now, his decision faces a lawsuit that the Manhattan Beach Unified School District has joined in on.
On Oct. 8, Gov. Schwarzenegger vetoed $133 million intended to pay counties for mental health services to about 20,000 special education students, services mandated by federal law.
Without the state’s funding, the financial burden lies on the backs of the counties and local school districts. For MBUSD, the burden could be an additional $800,000 to $1 million for mental health services, a hit district staff called “devastating.”
The California School Boards Assocation’s Education Legal Alliance and the Los Angeles Unified School District filed a lawsuit last week asking the Court of Appeal to declare that the governor has no power to suspend the requirement that state and county mental health agencies provide services to public school students.
“The governor’s decision to deny millions of dollars in child mental health services is appalling,” said CSBA President Frank Pugh. “Cuts to our schools and students have reached an all-time high … It is unthinkable to now eliminate the services that provide assistance to students struggling with mental health issues.”
In Manhattan Beach, about 25 students receive mental health services, including counseling, medical management and psychiatric help, according to Ellyn Schneider, director of student services. Of those, 18 are placed in residential facilities out of state because of their mental health needs, a number that changes rapidly; a few more are ready to be recommended. There are no facilities in state for the district to send those students.
“That’s why it’s so frightening,” Schneider said.
Currently, MBUSD covers the cost of basic education and transportation for those students in need of services out of state, while the county picks up the cost of room and board and therapy, items that get “quite pricey,” Schneider said.
“I can’t possibly think of what was in his mind,” Schneider said of Schwarzenegger’s decision to obliterate mental health services fundin g. “Unless he sees another funding source, but the money isn’t there.”
Assistant Superintendent Steve Romines said he has heard a range of $300,000 to $1 million of additional costs the district would be forced to shore up to cover the needs of district students.
“$300,000 we could probably handle, but $800,000 is devastating,” he said. “There aren’t any dollars lying around to make up for a $300,000 to $1 million hit. Basically we would have to cut $1 million out of the classroom. Every million is about 13 teachers.”
Mental health services are not ones that the district could absorb in-house either. While the district provides some counseling and the use of psychologists, many students need much more than that — expertise and personnel that the district does not have on staff or available to them.
“It’s important to advocate for these children. Their voice is silent on their own,” Schneider said. “We’re concerned about what this would do to the district budget, but we’re more concerned about what students would do if they don’t have placement that is appropriate for them. They’re fragile and they need everything they can get.”
Right now, there are many unknowns, Romines said, though the lawsuit might lead to an injunction to delay the cuts until next year.
Romines said he didn’t know exact numbers of how much the district pays the L.A. County Department of Health for mental health services or how much the district receives for services, since everything goes through the county, an office that won’t even talk to the district right now.
For now, the district feels the lawsuit might be the only way to ensure students’ needs are met.
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“The children in our schools, our communities and our state deserve to be heard, and we are their voice,” said School Board President Ida VanderPoorte.