The Murphy administration will no longer attempt to cut school-based mental health programs, the head of the state’s Department of Children and Families told lawmakers Thursday.

Earlier plans to cut such services were put on hold and a plan to eliminate school-based programs in place for decades was dropped after public pushback from school officials, lawmakers and advocates.

On Thursday, the head of the Department of Children and Families, Christine Norbut Beyer, faced the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee as part of its annual spending review.

In 2020, Murphy’s revised budget also proposed eliminating funding for school-based services like suicide prevention and counseling.

Close questioning

Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex) asked directly if this would be the last time that the administration attempts to cut such school-based mental health programs.

“Based on your question and with the caveat of we want to continue to look at all of the quality of the services that are provided, yes,” Norbut Beyer said.

“We are looking at how do we continue to build on this continuum of service from prevention through intervention. And looking at and listening really to constituents, listening to the Legislature, listening to children and families, we are really pleased at this point with what the continuum of services will look like and how school-based will be included in that,” she said.

Student mental health remains a top concern for state lawmakers and officials as discussions continued Thursday about the proposed influx of state money for a regional “hub-and-spoke” model that aims to provide increased mental health services for more students.

‘We are saying that we want evidence-based programming, but we’re not dictating or determining what specifically that program is…’ — Christine Norbut Beyer, Department of Children and Families

While New Jersey debates how to deliver mental health services to schoolchildren, young people across the country struggle through a mental health crisis and the nation faces an epidemic of loneliness and isolation. In 2021, 22% of Black and Hispanic high school students seriously considered attempting suicide, according to a report released in February by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. During the same year, 23% of white students and 18% of Asian students also seriously considered attempting suicide, the report said.

Additionally, 41% of LGBTQ+ young people seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year, according to a 2023 national survey on the mental health of LGBTQ+ young people from The Trevor Project. Meanwhile, 56% of LGBTQ+ young people who wanted mental health care in the past year were not able to get it.

Budget proposal

The proposed budget for the Department of Children and Families, which created the hub-and-spoke model, totals $1.388 billion. Of that, $43 million is set for this new regional hub-and-spoke model, according to a report detailing Gov. Phil Murphy’s budget recommendations for the coming fiscal year. The new program is scheduled to be in place prior to the first day of school in September 2023. Lawmakers are reviewing that $53.1 billion state budget proposal which must be passed and signed into law before July 1.

In October, the state announced its plan for the regional mental health services model, officially known as the New Jersey Statewide Student Support Service Network. The program will create 15 hubs, or centers, across the state that aim to offer mental health services to more students. Last month, the state announced the 12 health care organizations that will run the regional centers. The state approved  $13.3 million in contracts to the health care organizations to launch the 15 centers across the state, according to an analysis of the state budget from the Office of Legislative Services.

The state’s original proposal for the hub-and-spoke model was designed to replace the current school-based youth services programs by June 30. These programs have been in place in 90 schools throughout the state since the late 1980s. After pushback from school superintendents, state lawmakers and advocates, state officials announced in November that they would continue to fund the existing school-based youth services programs while building out the hub-and-spoke model.

Sen. Douglas Steinhardt (R-Hunterdon) also asked Norbut Beyer how the hub-and-spoke model will provide mental health services to smaller and rural school districts.

Additional mental health support for school-aged children is also being offered by the state in the form of a five-year grant program that aims to recruit and hire more school counselors, social workers and psychologists for underserved districts.

Through the New Jersey Statewide Student Support Service Network and the development of the 15 hubs, the hub in the northwestern part of the state will have a local advisory board.

“We are saying we want evidence-based programming, but we’re not dictating or determining what specifically that program is because we want the local advisory boards, the school districts, the students and the families that live in every district in the state to be able to determine what their needs are based on what’s happening in their community,” Norbut Beyer said.

Additional mental health support for school-aged children is also being offered by the state in the form of a five-year grant program that aims to recruit and hire more school counselors, social workers and psychologists for school districts that lack these mental health professionals and where more than 20% of the student population receives free and reduced-cost lunches. The grant program also aims to increase the diversity of mental health professionals serving in schools.

The grant program, offered through the Department of Education, and the regional hub-and-spoke model created by the Department of Children and Families will likely be complementary to each other and will be operating at the same time, according to Jason Butkowski, a spokesperson for the Department of Children and Families.