Legislative committee begins interim work on mental health services

SHERIDAN — The Wyoming Legislature’s Joint Education Committee began its interim work this week with an eye toward implementing and offering additional mental health services in Wyoming schools.

The education committee and Mental Health and Vulnerable Adults Task Force will coordinate efforts throughout the interim session to help better address mental health issues among Wyoming’s students.

Both committees have received information from Wyoming departments about the mental health services they provide to the state’s K-12 students to begin this year’s interim session.

In response to some of the task force’s work during the previous interim, lawmakers allocated an additional $10 million — beyond the block grant funding model — over the next two years to the Wyoming Department of Education to distribute to school districts across the state. The funds are dispersed based on the number of students in each school district and districts can use funds to hire or contract mental health professionals.

“That is a temporary stopgap,” Legislative Service Office Senior School Finance Analyst Matt Wilmarth said. “It’s about $10 million per year less than what your consultants have recommended.”

With additional funding in tow, school districts can look to fill a gap of 83 counselors or pupil support — which could be a school nurse, social worker or counselor — positions allocated by the K-12 block grant funding model.

“School districts have not hired, in total, the number of positions allocated,” Willmarth said. “In fact, this most recent school year was the highest difference.”

Mental health services are ultimately a collaborative effort between several state departments. Medicaid reimbursement for school-based services, which is managed by Wyoming Department of Health, is currently utilized by one district — Converse County School District #1 — to help pay for counseling, occupational therapy and speech or language pathology.

“If more districts were to voluntarily participate, there’s a potential for increased funding,” Wyoming Medicaid Benefits Management Administrator Sara Rogers said.

Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, requested a bill be drafted to require some of Wyoming’s largest school districts to participate in a pilot program to implement a broader Medicaid reimbursement program for school-based services. By targeting larger districts, Rothfuss said, lawmakers can ensure they have the proper staffing to work on implementing the program.

“We’ll learn a lot from that,” Rothfuss said. “...You fix the problems, smooth it out with the larger districts that are capable of doing it, then we drop down to those districts with over 1,000 students, and then… some future legislature, maybe long after we’re gone, has all districts do it.”

For the 2023-24 school year, Sheridan County School District #2 had the sixth-highest enrollment in the state, with 3,484 students. The district would likely be required to participate in the pilot program if it were signed into law.

Sheridan County School District #1 had the 21st highest enrollment in the state, with 1,153 students and would likely be part of a future wave of schools participating in the Medicaid reimbursement requirements. Sheridan County School District #3, meanwhile, had the second lowest enrollment in the state, with 81 students.

This story was published on June 15, 2024.