NJ Could Require Schools To Excuse Mental Health Absences

TRENTON, NJ — New Jersey students may get to take mental health days without getting penalized.

Two bills in the State Senate, which the Senate Education Committee discussed Thursday, would give students more flexibility to take time off from school for mental-health reasons. The legislation comes amid rising awareness of children's mental health struggles, which the U.S. surgeon general deemed a crisis in late 2021.

One of the bills would institute a state requirement to allow students up to five excused absences for mental- or behavioral-health reasons. The other measure would permit school districts to excuse absences for such reasons but wouldn't impose a requirement.

Both bills require the state education commissioner to develop guidelines for such absences. And those guidelines must address documentation a district may require from a student. Neither bill directly states which documentation may be required.

The bills were up for discussion — not a vote — so they remain in the education committee's hands.

"We believe that to truly make a difference, a state mandate is needed that requires, not just permits, all schools to follow this policy," Natalie Veale, a junior at Hopewell Valley Central High School, told the education committee. "Mental illness does not discriminate and is in schools everywhere."

Under Bill S2151, students absent for mental-health reasons would get the opportunity to make up any work they missed without getting penalized. Additionally, the absences wouldn't count toward determining whether the child is "chronically absent" — defined by state law as missing at least 10 percent of school days.

After two missed days, the student's school may refer them to the appropriate school-support staff.

If passed, the measure would go into effect 180 days after enactment but remain inoperative until the first full school year following the effective date. That means state lawmakers would need to pass the bill in the coming days for the measure to take effect, as written, by next school year.

The second measure — Bill S2414 — would allow districts to expand their definition of "excused absences" to include mental- or behavior-health reasons. If passed, the measure would take effect on the first day of the second full school year following enactment.

School administrators have expressed concerns about the bills.

"My concern is, carving out specific mental health days will only increase absenteeism, which has risen significantly following the pandemic," Melanie Schulz, of the New Jersey Association of School Administrators, said Thursday.

Awareness of youth mental-health struggles increased in recent years because of the challenges children have faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. But in the decade leading up to the pandemic, feelings of sadness and hopelessness, along with suicidal thoughts and behaviors, increased 40 percent among young people, according to the CDC.