School District to Pay $1.25 Million for Mental Health Services Previously Funded by State

The cash-strapped school district has a new financial burden following the Board of Education’s approval last Thursday of a $1.25 million agreement with the county for mental health services. This had previously been funded by the state.

Outgoing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in October nixed state funding for mental health services provided to California's schools by county health departments. The California Department of Education immediately filled that void with $76 million of federal money, but this source was exhausted earlier this year.

The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District will have to fund mental health services through the remainder of the fiscal year (including February), which ends June 30, to the tune of $250,000 per month.

“We are just getting hit from the state from every level, and we’re just tying to do the best we can,” Board member Nimish Patel said.

The price tag covers 15 students living in residential treatment centers and 59 students receiving outpatient mental health services, the district’s staff report states. The SMMUSD does not have time to shop around for a better deal, district officials said, without interrupting services for the students. Superintendent Tim Cuneo said for the next fiscal year, the district will negotiate with other agencies to provide these services at a cheaper rate than the county charges.

There is a feature in Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed 2011-12 budget that would allow the Legislature to vote on whether to compensate the school districts for this year's mental health spending. In addition, there are three lawsuits pending to try to return the financial responsibility to Sacramento.

Five board members supported the district’s agreement with the county, Laurie Lieberman was not in attendance and Board Vice President Ben Allen dissented because he found “the terms of this agreement to be distressing.” However, Allen said he understood the board’s predicament.

“I think the board is really between a rock and a hard place on this issue,” Allen said. “It’s another … effect of the budget crisis, and everybody seems to be kicking the can down the road in terms of responsibilities.”

Also at the meeting, the board tentatively established the position of licensed vocational nurse. It will be finalized at a later meeting. The person in this position would have fewer academic credentials than the registered nurses currently working for the district, but would work for a lower salary, and therefore more of them could work for the district.

The district last month approved layoff notices for six (five full-time and one part-time) district nurses. This school year, there are 11 full-time and one part-time nurse working for the SMMUSD, including two nurses hired in December.

Those who received layoff notices might not lose their jobs, but the action allows the district some flexibility in making adjustments to the health care program. A task force is determining what adjustments should be made, and it will provide the board with recommended options soon. Among them could be for a staff that includes a mix of registered and vocational nurses as well as health clerks.

Board member Oscar de la Torre said he was bothered with what he called “balancing the budget on the back of  … one category of employees.” 

“Our nurses do a great deal of good for our students … I’m uncomfortable with what we’re doing because we’re sort of targeting one area of the organization rather than having a menu of choices,“ de la Torre said.

Board President José Escarce , who has a medical degree, said people should be careful not to dismiss the capabilities of certain workers just because they do not have the same qualifications as others.

“People have different levels of education, accomplishments and so forth, but everybody has skills they can contribute  … toward health care … to students,” Escarce said.