Testimony to House Public Education Committee on HB 1434
Texans Care for Children supports the passage of HB 1434, which will assist schools in addressing the mental health needs of students in order to increase success in school and later in life.
Many students face non-academic challenges that directly impact their success in school.
- Up to 30% of school-aged children experience at least moderate behavioral, social or emotional problems.
- About 1 in 10 children have mental health concerns that severely interfere with their ability to function at home, in school, or in the community.
- Chronic stress or on-going trauma can physically alter the neural wiring and chemical response in a child’s brain, causing children who have experienced trauma to be more impulsive and be more likely to engage in risky behavior.
- Students with serious mental health concerns tend to experience high rates of absenteeism, poor social integration, and are twice as likely as peers without serious mental health concerns to drop out of school.