(1) The general assembly finds that: (a) School mental health professionals, including school social workers, positively impact the school environment by working with young students and their families to identify safety-net insecurities, social and emotional skills deficits, instances of abuse and neglect, and mental health challenges; (b) Identifying these student issues as early as possible increases the likelihood that problems can be resolved successfully and in a manner that decreases long-term problems with learning and other barriers to student success in the future; (c) A pilot program that places a team of school mental health professionals in every pilot program school will allow the team, in partnership with classroom teachers, to provide needed support for young students and their families at a critical time in their education; (d) A significant goal of the pilot program is to ensure that students of elementary age receive the right level of necessary services, in the right place, and at the right time; (e) Receiving the right level of services, in the right place, and at the right time helps remove the burden placed on teachers to be everything to a student, from therapist to family counselor, and instead allows teachers to return to their primary task: Teaching; and (f) The pilot program will enable parents, students, teachers, administrators, and school mental health professionals to create a safe, positive, and successful school learning environment. (2) Therefore, the general assembly declares that the creation and successful implementation of a Colorado K-5 social and emotional health pilot program could have a profound impact on the early educational and social experiences of kindergarten through fifth- grade students, resulting in those students graduating to middle and high school programs with fewer social, emotional, and behavioral issues; adverse childhood experiences; disciplinary referrals and delinquent conduct; school absences and truancy; and incidences of self-harm.
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