HB 906 Mental Health Task Force Survey

To The Administrator Addressed (TAA) Letter Purpose: This TAA letter transmits to superintendents a School Mental Health Task Force survey for response by local educational agencies (LEAs). The survey opens on March 3, 2022, and closes on April 24, 2022.  Survey responses are due in Qualtrics by April 24, 2022.  

Survey Link for LEA Response:  https://utexas.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0jONTLWXjdnDcpg 

• PDF Version of LEA Survey: https://schoolmentalhealthtx.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/HB906-Survey-2021-2022-District-for-PDF.pdf 

Action Required:  Superintendents should route the TAA with linked survey and pdf of the questions as follows:

• Superintendents should designate their LEA contact with awareness and oversight of mental health-related programs and processes to facilitate responses and complete the survey by April 24, 2022.   

Collaborative Task Force on Public School Mental Health (Task Force) Background: House Bill 906, 86th Texas Legislature, 2019, established the Task Force and charged the Commissioner of Education with appointing diverse members to study and evaluate state-funded, school-based mental health services and training, per Texas Education Code, Sections 38.302-38.304. The Task Force is led by Annalee Gulley, chair, and Tracy Spinner, co-chair. The members include researchers with experience evaluating mental health-related services from three institutions of higher education, school district administrators, education service center leaders, professional school counselors, direct-service mental health professionals, community mental health organizations, parents of children served in schools, and Texas Education Agency (TEA) staff.  

A full list of Task Force members serving in their roles was created by the Task Force officers and can be found here: https://schoolmentalhealthtx.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/2022-Member…

Survey Purpose: The intent of this survey is to study LEAs’ needs and capacity towards establishing and implementing multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) that address mental and behavioral health. It includes inquiry about specific elements in statute, LEA needs, capacity, and LEA reflection on some best practice considerations.

• The results will not be shared publicly, except in aggregate on the state and regional levels of reporting. 
• The results will not be used in any way to evaluate any LEA or campus. 
• Survey results will be summarized in a required Task Force Report to the Texas Legislature, along with recommendations on school mental health capacity.
• The Task Force seeks a 100% response rate to this survey. 

TEA’s Role: TEA is disseminating this survey pursuant to the agency’s statutory role to support the Task Force. TEA will store all data in accordance with the agency’s information security plan, Records Retention Schedule, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and any applicable state statutes.

Survey Response Strategy: It is recommended that multi-disciplinary team members convene and engage to collaboratively respond in each LEA, consistent with MTSS teaming best practices. LEAs should also include campus administrators as part of this district-level MTSS team.  Team members should self-assess baseline capacity on each question section by section on the paper version during a multi-disciplinary team meeting. Then, one team member should be assigned the responsibility to enter your LEA capacity self-assessment using the survey link.

Survey Support:  Help is available to you! Please review the survey by March 24, 2022, and submit any questions through this form. The Task Force will collect questions received by March 24th and post responses to those questions by April 3, 2022, at this link:  https://schoolmentalhealthtx.org/hb-906-task-force/. If you have additional questions while working on the survey, please email or call the School Mental Health Task Force Co-Chair Tracy Spinner directly at ts@goodsidehealth.com or 512-848-7139.   

Closing Comments: While Texas Education Code Section, 38.307(d), requires responses to the Task Force’s request for information, the Task Force is grateful for your thoughtful and honest self-assessment in this study. The Task Force appreciates your efforts to support student mental health and wellness. Thank you in advance for your attention to this survey.

General TEA guidance and technical assistance regarding mental and behavioral health resources, other than inquiries regarding the Task Force surveys, may be requested from the TEA Division of Safe and Supportive Schools, Mental Health and Wellness Team at MentalandBehavioralHealth@tea.texas.gov

Resources: For more information on the Task Force and TEA guidance on school mental health, please access the resources below on the Texas School Mental Health Website:

TEA Statewide Plan for Student Mental Health
The Collaborative Task Force on Public School Mental Health Services- Year 1 Report
Texas School Mental Health Practice Guide and Toolkit