Utah House Bill 373, among other things, requests appropriations to provide money for school districts seeking to hire school-based mental health support professionals such as school psychologists.
If you need to know who represents you at a state level, go to https://le.utah.gov/GIS/findDistrict.jsp for contact information. In interacting with your legislators, consider using the following as a starting point:
Dear [Senator, Representative] [INSERT LEGISLATOR’S LAST NAME],
As a constituent and a school psychologist, I respectfully request that you fully support House Bill 373 or its senate equivalent, which provides money to school districts to increase student access to school-based mental health providers like school psychologists. Preventing and addressing student mental health issues is critical to student success. We have school-based mental health professionals currently employed to address these issues, but there are far too few of us throughout the state.
In the state of Utah, we have between 2,500 to 3,000 students for every school psychologist. The National Association of School Psychologists recommends that no more than a ratio of 1 school psychologist to 700 students is needed to be able to provide comprehensive supports that include prevention and intervention of mental health issues, school crises, youth suicide, academic difficulty and more.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, or if you see any way for school psychologists like myself to further support legislation that increases access to school-based mental health providers.
Thank you for your service to our state and your consideration of this issue.
Sincerely,
[INSERT YOUR NAME AND TITLE]
[INSERT YOUR FULL ADDRESS]
[INSERT EMAIL AND/OR PHONE NUMBER]
