HB 23-1003

House Bill 23-1003, also known as the School Mental Health Assessment Act, requires public schools from grades 6 through 12 in Colorado to offer mental health screenings for students. Schools must notify parents within two weeks of the school year's start and allow them to opt their children out if they choose. The bill allocates funding for these screenings and ensures that parents are informed if additional mental health services are needed based on a student’s screening results. This program is now in effect, having been signed into law by the governor on June 5, 2023.

Official Summary

The act creates the sixth through twelfth grade mental health screening program (program) administered by the behavioral health administration (BHA) to identify risks and provide resources and referrals related to student mental and emotional health needs. The act allows any public school that serves any of grades 6 through 12 and meets certain requirements to participate in the program. The act requires participating schools to provide written notice to the parents of students within the first 2 weeks of the start of the school year in order to allow parents to opt their child out of the program. Mental health screenings must be conducted in participating schools by a screener selected through a request for proposals process. The act requires a screener to notify a student's parent if the screener determines that additional mental health services are needed based on the student's mental health screening results. Students who are home-schooled but who participate in extracurricular activities or athletic programs at a participating school are exempt from the program. The act appropriates $475,278 from the general fund to the department of human services for community-based mental health services related to the program. APPROVED by Governor June 5, 2023 EFFECTIVE June 5, 2023 (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

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