OFFICE OF FISCAL ANALYSIS
Legislative Office Building, Room 5200
Hartford, CT 06106 (860) 240-0200
http://www.cga.ct.gov/ofa
sSB-1
AN ACT CONCERNING CHILDHOOD MENTAL AND PHYSICAL
HEALTH SERVICES IN SCHOOLS.
Primary Analyst: SB 4/25/22
Contributing Analyst(s):
Reviewer: JS
OFA Fiscal Note
State Impact: SEE BELOW
Municipal Impact: SEE BELOW
Explanation
State Department of Education
The bill results in significant costs to the State Department of
Education (SDE) associated with developing a survey to distribute to
each local and regional board of education concerning the employment
of various behavioral health practitioners and school nurses, and the
creation of a grant program for local and regional boards of education,
associated with hiring and retention of these workers. SDE does not
currently have the staff available to complete the requirements
contained within the bill and does not have funding to provide grants.
It is anticipated that the cost to the state would be significant, over $1
million.
The bill additionally requires local and regional boards of education
to implement mental health plans for student athletes, which are jointly
developed with SDE. This could result in a state mandate and
corresponding cost to local and regional boards of education associated
with providing additional mental health services to student athletes.
The scope of the cost would vary depending on the size of the district,
the number of student athletes and the services contained within the
mental health plans. 2022SB-00001-R000641-FN.DOCX Page 2 of 4
The bill authorizes a school nurse, or in the absence of a school nurse,
a qualified school employee, to maintain opioid antagonists to
administer emergency first aid to a student who is experiencing an
opioid-related drug overdose. The bill requires a school nurse or
principal to select multiple qualified school employees to administer an
opioid antagonist, and at least one such employee must be on school
grounds during regular school hours when the school nurse is not there.
This could result in additional costs to local and regional school districts
if a school must pay an employee to stay additional hours outside of
their normally scheduled hours, to cover the requirements of the bill.
The cost to a district would be dependent on the number of hours a
school nurse is away during normal school hours and those hours are
outside the normal schedule of the qualified employees. The bill allows
local and regional school districts to maintain opioid antagonists, this
could result in an additional cost associate with purchasing emergency
kits, which are estimated to cost $22 - $60 per kit. If a district were to
purchase 100 kits, the cost would range from $2,220 to $6,000.
Additionally, the bill establishes a minority teacher candidate
scholarship program. This will result in an additional cost to the state as
SDE does not have funding available. The scope of the cost would be
dependent upon the number of scholarships awarded and the amount
per award.
Office of Early Childhood
The bill results in significant costs to the Office of Early Childhood
(OEC) associated with: (1) expanding infant and toddler and PreK seats
over time, starting with School Readiness programs in FY 23, and based
on needs assessments, (2) increasing infant and toddler and Prek rates
for those programs, (3) expanding the definition of School Readiness to
include sectarian child care providers who would otherwise qualify,
and (4) implementing the early childhood care and education salary
enhancement grant program. OEC must establish program
administration and eligibility requirements by 10/1/22 and distribute
funding in FY 23, which is related to the early childhood education 2022SB-00001-R000641-FN.DOCX Page 3 of 4
compensation schedule.
For context, increasing rates for existing School Readiness and child
day care seats would cost approximately $64.8 million and the salary
enhancement program is anticipated to impact up to approximately
21,000 employees. The bill's actual costs to the state and associated
impacts to towns is dependent on the child care needs assessments and
related distribution of seats at increased rates for applicable programs,
and the implementation of the compensation schedule. OEC would
require additional staffing costs of at least $164,000 annually (with
associated fringe of $66,500) to administer the salary enhancement grant
program.
Appropriations
SDE
General
Fund 60,000
To support a full-time SDE
position to administer the grant
program to provide grants to
local and regional boards of
education for the purpose of
hiring and retaining additional
school social workers and
school psychologists.
SDE
General
Fund 30,000
To support a f ull-time
employee to administer the
minority teacher candidate
scholarship program.
DPH
General
Fund 590,000
To provide grants to each of the
36 recommended sites for
expanded mental health
services contained in the final
report of the School-Based
Health Center Expansion
Working Group, established
pursuant to section 16 of public
1291 act 21-35. 2022SB-00001-R000641-FN.DOCX Page 4 of 4
DPH
General
Fund 21,240,000
To expand services of existing
school-based health centers to
include mental health services
in accordance with the
provisions.
SDE ARPA 13,000,000
To support the existing 15
districts participating in the
Learner Engagement and
Attendance Program (LEAP)
and expand participation in the
LEAP program to include five
additional high-need districts.
SDE ARPA 13,000,000
To support the existing 20
districts participating in the
Learner Engagement and
Attendance Program (LEAP).
sHB 5037, the revised FY 23 budget bill, as favorably reported by the
Appropriations Committee, is under the spending cap by $4.6 million in
FY 23. The appropriations contained in the bill would result in the
budget being over the spending cap by $17.3 million in FY 23.
The Out Years
The annualized ongoing fiscal impact identified above would
continue into the future subject to inflation.