We are in a moment of transformative opportunity

We are in a unique moment of opportunity to advance school-based healthcare. This year, students made their return to the classroom, bringing with them unmet health and mental health needs exacerbated by 2+ years of pandemic disruption. Luckily, California entered this year’s budget cycle with a $100 billion surplus and continued its trajectory of unprecedented public investments. Between this and next year’s budget, California has committed over $20 billion toward meeting the non-academic needs of K-12 students, including $4.7 billion to transform kids’ mental health and $4 billion (ongoing appropriation, unless it’s actively removed during the budget process it would remain in place) to provide afterschool and summer enrichment programs. We applaud the state’s effort to target historic investments toward Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and low-income communities, which experienced disproportionate harm from COVID-19 due to longstanding structural and systemic inequities. 

Heightened interest and investment in youth mental health and school environments is elevating the role of school-based healthcare. The L.A. Trust School Health Policy Roundtable, a cross-sector collaborative of 33 organizations committed to advancing schools as centers of wellness, is working to ensure transformative investments in school health go toward building integrated, youth centered systems of care that help LA County youth succeed in school and life.  

 Learn more about the Roundtable and our policy goals here.  

Share our priorities? We’d love to partner. Contact Gabby Tilley at g.tilley@thelatrust.org to learn more.  

AB 1940 Awaiting Governor Newsom's Signature 

We are proud to support AB 1940 (Salas): School-Based Health Center Support Program, state legislation sponsored by the California School-based Health Alliance. The bill is on Newsom’s desk awaiting signature or veto—take action to help pass AB 1940!  

AB 1940 updates and modernizes the existing school-based health center (SBHC) grant program to meet the current needs of SBHCs in the state. The SBHC Program has existed in statute since 2007 yet has never been implemented due to a lack of funding. Unfortunately, funding for SBHC grants was left out of the 2022-23 state budget, but passing AB 1940 is an important step toward dedicated state funding.  

TAKE ACTION 

Tell Governor Newsom to sign AB 1940