SR38

WHEREAS, according to a 2021 United States Surgeon General's Advisory on protecting youth mental health, the growing use of digital social media; increased academic pressure; limited access to mental health care; health risk behaviors such as drug and alcohol use; broader stressors such as finance, income inequality, and racism, all contribute to the upward trend in mental health challenges facing young people; and

WHEREAS, a 2021 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analysis states that nearly forty percent of high school students reported experiencing poor mental health during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic and forty-four percent of high school students reported persistent feelings of sadness or helplessness in the prior year; and

WHEREAS, providing behavioral health education in the State's public schools can assist students to better understand their feelings about, and responses to, various situations and where to get help; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2024, that the Department of Education is requested to develop and implement a statewide behavioral health curricula plan for public school students in kindergarten through twelfth grade; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the curriculum include but not be limited to age-appropriate information on:

(1) Mental and emotional health;

(2) Personal health and wellness;

(3) Healthy eating and physical activity;

(4) Safety, including unintentional injury and prevention;

(5) Violence prevention;

(6) Tobacco use and prevention;

(7) Alcohol and other drug use prevention; and

(8) Sexual health and responsibility; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Education is requested to review and determine into which courses the behavioral health curricula be integrated; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that only qualified health teachers are requested to teach behavioral health courses; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to Chairperson of the Board of Education and Superintendent of Education.

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

Department of Education; Mental Health Curricula; Behavioral Health Curricula; Grades Kindergarten through Twelve; Public Schools.

THE SENATE	S.R. NO.	38
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2024
STATE OF HAWAII