I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4025 

To establish the Mental Health in Schools Excellence Program to increase 

the recruitment and retention of school-based mental health services 

providers, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 25, 2019 

Mr. FITZPATRICK (for himself and Ms. WILD) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To establish the Mental Health in Schools Excellence Program to increase the recruitment and retention of schoolbased mental health services providers, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Mental Health in 

5 Schools Excellence Program Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PROGRAM TO ESTABLISH PUBLIC-PRIVATE CON2 TRIBUTIONS TO INCREASE THE AVAILABLE 

3 WORKFORCE OF SCHOOL-BASED MENTAL 

4 HEALTH SERVICE PROVIDERS. 

5 (a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary shall 

6 carry out a program under which eligible graduate institu7 tions may enter into an agreement with the Secretary to 

8 cover a portion of the cost of attendance of a participating 

9 student, which contributions shall be matched by equiva10 lent contributions towards such cost of attendance by the 

11 Secretary. 

12 (b) DESIGNATION OF PROGRAM.—The program 

13 under this section shall be known as the ‘‘Mental Health 

14 in Schools Excellence Program’’. 

15 (c) AGREEMENTS.—The Secretary shall enter into an 

16 agreement with each eligible graduate institution seeking 

17 to participate in the program under this section. Each 

18 agreement shall specify the following: 

19 (1) The manner (whether by direct grant, schol20 arship, or otherwise) in which the eligible graduate 

21 institution will contribute to the cost of attendance 

22 of a participating student. 

23 (2) The maximum amount of the contribution 

24 to be made by the eligible graduate institution with 

25 respect to any particular participating student in 

26 any given academic year. 


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1 (3) The maximum number of individuals for 

2 whom the eligible graduate institution will make con3 tributions in any given academic year. 

4 (4) Such other matters as the Secretary and 

5 the eligible graduate institution determine appro6 priate. 

7 (d) OUTREACH.—The Secretary shall— 

8 (1) make publicly available and periodically up9 date on the internet website of the Department of 

10 Education a list of the eligible graduate institutions 

11 participating in the program under this section that 

12 shall specify, for each such graduate institution, ap13 propriate information on the agreement between the 

14 Secretary and such college or university under sub15 section (c); and 

16 (2) conduct outreach to students who are eligi17 ble for Federal Pell Grants to inform such students 

18 of the program under this section. 

19 (e) PARTICIPATING STUDENTS.— 

20 (1) REPAYMENT.—A participating student that 

21 accepts a contribution under this section shall reim22 burse the Department of Education and the eligible 

23 graduate school for all contributions made by such 

24 entities to such student as if such contributions were 


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1 a loan under part D of title IV of the Higher Edu2 cation Act (20 U.S.C. 1087a) if the student— 

3 (A) withdraws or is removed from the 

4 graduate degree program for which the student 

5 received such contributions; or 

6 (B) except as provided in paragraph (2) 

7 and subject to paragraph (3), graduates, but is 

8 not employed as a school-based mental health 

9 services provider in the 5-year period after 

10 graduation. 

11 (2) EXCEPTION.—For purposes of calculating 

12 the 5-year period after graduation under paragraph 

13 (1)(C), the Secretary may not count any period of 

14 less than 2 years in which the participating stu15 dent— 

16 (A) takes leave under the Family and Med17 ical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2601 et 

18 seq.); 

19 (B) serves under active duty in the Armed 

20 Forces; 

21 (C) takes maternity or paternity leave; or 

22 (D) any combination of subparagraphs (A) 

23 through (C). 

24 (3) RATABLE REDUCTION.—A participating 

25 student described in paragraph (1)(C) who was emVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:58 Aug 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4025.IH H4025

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1 ployed as a school-based mental health services pro2 vider for less than 5 years during the 5-year period 

3 after graduation shall reimburse the Department of 

4 Education and the eligible graduate school the 

5 amount that bears the same proportion to all con6 tributions made by such entities as the amount of 

7 time such participating student was employed as a 

8 school-based mental health services provider during 

9 such 5-year period bears to such 5-year period. 

10 (f) MATCHING CONTRIBUTIONS.—The Secretary may 

11 provide a contribution of up to 50 percent of the cost of 

12 attendance of a participating student if the eligible grad13 uate institution at which such student is enrolled enters 

14 into an agreement under subsection (c) with the Secretary 

15 to match such contribution. 

16 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

17 In this Act: 

18 (1) COST OF ATTENDANCE.—The term ‘‘cost of 

19 attendance’’ has the meaning given the term in sec20 tion 472 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 

21 U.S.C. 1087ll). 

22 (2) ELIGIBLE GRADUATE INSTITUTION.—The 

23 term ‘‘eligible graduate institution’’ means an insti24 tution of higher education in that offers a program 

25 of study that leads to a graduate degree— 


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1 (A) in school psychology that is accredited 

2 or approved by the National Association of 

3 School Psychologists’ Program Accreditation 

4 Board or the Commission on Accreditation of 

5 the American Psychological Association and 

6 that prepares students in such program for the 

7 State licensing or certification examination in 

8 school psychology at the specialist level; 

9 (B) in an accredited school counseling pro10 gram that prepares students in such program 

11 for the State licensing or certification examina12 tion in school counseling; 

13 (C) in school social work that is accredited 

14 by the Council on Social Work Education and 

15 that prepares students in such program for the 

16 State licensing or certification examination in 

17 school social work; 

18 (D) in another school-based mental health 

19 field that prepares students in such program 

20 for the State licensing or certification examina21 tion in such field, if applicable; or 

22 (E) in any combination of study described 

23 in subparagraphs (A) through (D). 

24 (3) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 

25 term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 


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1 meaning given such term in section 101 of the High2 er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001), but ex3 cludes any institution of higher education described 

4 in section 102(a)(1)(C) of such Act. 

5 (4) PARTICIPATING STUDENT.—The term ‘‘par6 ticipating student’’ means an individual who is en7 rolled in a graduate degree in a school-based mental 

8 health field from a participating eligible graduate in9 stitution. 

10 (5) SCHOOL-BASED MENTAL HEALTH FIELD.— 

11 The term ‘‘school-based mental health field’’ means 

12 each of the following fields: 

13 (A) School counseling. 

14 (B) School social work. 

15 (C) School psychology. 

16 (D) Any other field of study that leads to 

17 employment as a school-based mental health 

18 services provider, as determined by the Sec19 retary. 

20 (6) SCHOOL-BASED MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES

21 PROVIDER.—The term ‘‘school-based mental health 

22 services provider’’ has the meaning given the term in 

23 section 4102 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu24 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7112). 


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1 (7) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

2 the Secretary of Education. 

Æ 


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