(1) (a) The multiagency network for students with emotional and behavioral disabilities works with education, mental health, child welfare, and juvenile justice professionals, along with other agencies and families, to provide children with mental illness or emotional and behavioral problems and their families with access to the services and supports they need to succeed. District school boards should provide educational programs, and state departments and agencies administering children’s mental health funds should provide mental health treatment and residential services when needed, as part of the multiagency network.

(b) The purpose of the multiagency network is to:

1. Enable students with severe emotional disturbance to learn appropriate behaviors, reduce dependency, and fully participate in all aspects of school and community living.

2. Develop individual programs for students with severe emotional disturbance, including necessary educational, residential, and mental health treatment services.

3. Provide programs and services as close as possible to the student’s home in the least restrictive manner consistent with the student’s needs.

4. Integrate a wide range of services necessary to support students with severe emotional disturbance and their families.

(c) The multiagency network shall:

1. Support and represent the needs of students in each school district in joint planning with fiscal agents of children’s mental health funds, including the expansion of school-based mental health services, transition services, and integrated education and treatment programs.

2. Improve coordination of services for children with or at risk of emotional or behavioral disabilities and their families by assisting multi-agency collaborative initiatives to identify critical issues and barriers of mutual concern and develop local response systems that increase home and school connections and family engagement.

3. Increase parent and youth involvement and development with local systems of care.

4. Facilitate student and family access to effective services and programs for students with and at risk of emotional or behavioral disabilities that include necessary educational, residential, and mental health treatment services, enabling these students to learn appropriate behaviors, reduce dependency, and fully participate in all aspects of school and community living.

(16) Mental health assistance allocation. — The mental health assistance allocation is created to provide funding to assist school districts in establishing or expanding school-based mental health care; train educators and other school staff in detecting and responding to mental health issues; and connect children, youth, and families who may experience behavioral health issues with appropriate services. These funds shall be allocated annually in the General Appropriations Act or other law to each eligible school district. Each school district shall receive a minimum of $100,000, with the remaining balance allocated based on each school district’s proportionate share of the state’s total unweighted full-time equivalent student enrollment. Charter schools that submit a plan separate from the school district are entitled to a proportionate share of district funding. The allocated funds may not supplant funds that are provided for this purpose from other operating funds and may not be used to increase salaries or provide bonuses. School districts are encouraged to maximize third-party health insurance benefits and Medicaid claiming for services, where appropriate. (a) Before the distribution of the allocation:

1. The school district must develop and submit a detailed plan outlining the local program and planned expenditures to the district school board for approval. This plan must include all district schools, including charter schools, unless a charter school elects to submit a plan independently from the school district pursuant to subparagraph 2.

2. A charter school may develop and submit a detailed plan outlining the local program and planned expenditures to its governing body for approval. After the plan is approved by the governing body, it must be provided to the charter school’s sponsor.

(b) The plans required under paragraph (a) must be focused on a multi-tiered system of supports to deliver evidence-based mental health care assessment, diagnosis, intervention, treatment, and recovery services to students with one or more mental health or co-occurring substance abuse diagnoses and to students at high risk of such diagnoses. The provision of these services must be coordinated with a student’s primary mental health care provider and with other mental health providers involved in the student’s care. At a minimum, the plans must include the following elements:

1. Direct employment of school-based mental health services providers to expand and enhance school-based student services and to reduce the ratio of students to staff in order to better align with nationally recommended ratio models. These providers include, but are not limited to, certified school counselors, school psychologists, school social workers, and other licensed mental health professionals. The plan also must identify strategies to increase the amount of time that school-based student services personnel spend providing direct services to students, which may include the review and revision of district staffing resource allocations based on school or student mental health assistance needs.

2. Contracts or interagency agreements with one or more local community behavioral health providers or providers of Community Action Team services to provide a behavioral health staff presence and services at district schools. Services may include, but are not limited to, mental health screenings and assessments, individual counseling, family counseling, group counseling, psychiatric or psychological services, trauma informed care, mobile crisis services, and behavior modification. These behavioral health services may be provided on or off the school campus and may be supplemented by telehealth.

3. Policies and procedures, including contracts with service providers, which will ensure that students who are referred to a school-based or community-based mental health service provider for mental health screening for the identification of mental health concerns and ensure that the assessment of students at risk for mental health disorders occurs within 15 days of referral. School-based mental health services must be initiated within 15 days after identification and assessment, and support by community-based mental health service providers for students who are referred for community based mental health services must be initiated within 30 days after the school or district makes a referral.

4. Strategies or programs to reduce the likelihood of at risk students developing social, emotional, or behavioral health problems, depression, anxiety disorders, suicidal tendencies, or substance use disorders.

5. Strategies to improve the early identification of social, emotional, or behavioral problems or substance use disorders, to improve the provision of early intervention services, and to assist students in dealing with trauma and violence.

(c) School districts shall submit approved plans, including approved plans of each charter school in the district, to the commissioner by August 1 of each fiscal year.

(d) Beginning September 30, 2019, and annually by September 30 thereafter, each school district shall submit to the Department of Education a report on its program outcomes and expenditures for the previous fiscal year that, at a minimum, must include the number of each of the following:

1. Students who receive screenings or assessments.

2. Students who are referred to either school-based or community-based providers for services or assistance.

3. Students who receive either school-based or community based interventions, services, or assistance.

4. School-based and community-based mental health providers, including licensure type, paid for from funds provided through the allocation.

5. Contract-based collaborative efforts or partnerships with community mental health programs, agencies, or providers.

(1) The State Surgeon General, or his or her designee, in cooperation with the Commissioner of Education, or his or her designee, shall publicize the availability of funds, targeting those school districts or schools which have a high incidence of medically underserved high-risk children, low birthweight babies, infant mortality, or teenage pregnancy.

(2) The State Surgeon General, or his or her designees, in cooperation with the Commissioner of Education, or his or her designees, in equal representation, shall form a joint committee to evaluate and select the school districts or schools to be funded.

(3) Any school district, school, or laboratory school which desires to receive state funding under the provisions of this section shall submit a proposal to the joint committee established in subsection (2). The proposal shall state the goals of the program, provide specific plans for reducing teenage pregnancy, and describe all of the health services to be available to students with funds provided pursuant to this section, including a combination of initiatives such as health education, counseling, extracurricular, and self-esteem components. School health services shall not promote elective termination of pregnancy as a part of counseling services. Only those program proposals which have been developed jointly by county health departments and local school districts or schools, and which have community and parental support, shall be eligible for funding. Funding shall be available specifically for implementation of one of the following programs:

(a) School health improvement pilot project. — The program shall include basic health care to an elementary school, middle school, and high school feeder system. Program services shall include, but not be limited to:

1. Planning, implementing, and evaluating school health services. Staffing shall include a full-time, trained school health aide in each elementary, middle, and high school; one full-time nurse to supervise the aides in the elementary and middle schools; and one full-time nurse in each high school.

2. Providing student health appraisals and identification of actual or potential health problems by screenings, nursing assessments, and record reviews.

3. Expanding screening activities.

4. Improving the student utilization of school health services.

5. Coordinating health services for students with parents or guardians and other agencies in the community.

(b) Student support services team program. — The program shall include a multidisciplinary team composed of a psychologist, social worker, and nurse whose responsibilities are to provide basic support services and to assist, in the school setting, children who exhibit mild to severely complex health, behavioral, or learning problems affecting their school performance. Support services shall include, but not be limited to: evaluation and treatment for minor illnesses and injuries, referral and followup for serious illnesses and emergencies, onsite care and consultation, referral to a physician, and followup care for pregnancy or chronic diseases and disorders as well as emotional or mental problems. Services also shall include referral care for drug and alcohol abuse and sexually transmitted diseases, sports and employment physicals, immunizations, and in addition, effective preventive services aimed at delaying early sexual involvement and aimed at pregnancy, acquired immune deficiency syndrome, sexually transmitted diseases, and destructive lifestyle conditions, such as alcohol and drug abuse. Moneys for this program shall be used to fund three teams, each consisting of one half-time psychologist, one full-time nurse, and one full-time social worker. Each team shall provide student support services to an elementary school, middle school, and high school that are a part of one feeder school system and shall coordinate all activities with the school administrator and certified school counselor at each school. A program that places all three teams in middle schools or high schools may also be proposed.

(c) Full service schools. — The full-service schools shall integrate the services of the Department of Health that are critical to the continuity-of-care process. The department shall provide services to students on the school grounds. Department personnel shall provide their specialized services as an extension of the educational environment. Such services may include nutritional services, medical services, aid to dependent children, parenting skills, counseling for abused children, and education for the students’ parents or guardians.

Funding may also be available for any other program that is comparable to a program described in this subsection but is designed to meet the particular needs of the community.

(4) In addition to the merits of a proposal, selection shall be based on those school districts or schools that most closely meet the following criteria:

(a) Have evidence of a comprehensive inservice staff development plan to ensure delivery of appropriate curriculum.

(b) Have evidence of a cooperative working relationship between the county health department and the school district or school and have community as well as parental support.

(c) Have a high percentage of subsidized school lunches.

(d) Have a high incidence of medically underserved high-risk children, low birthweight babies, infant mortality, or teenage pregnancy.

(5) Each school district or school program that is funded through the provisions of this section shall provide a mechanism through which a parent may, by written request, exempt a child from all or certain services provided by a school health services program described in subsection (3).

(6) The services provided by a comprehensive school health program must focus attention on promoting the health of students, reducing risk-taking behavior, and reducing teen pregnancy. Services provided under this section are in addition to the services provided under s. 381.0056 and are intended to supplement, rather than supplant, those services.