To: The Florida State House, The Florida State Senate, and Governor Ron DeSantis
Florida needs #MoreSchoolPsychologists
Schools in Florida (K-12 & Universities) should be enabled to hire more psychologists and funds should be allocated specifically for hiring these professionals. Florida’s pattern is under-funding school psychologists.
Why is this important?
Schools in Florida should be enabled to hire more psychologists and funds should be allocated specifically for hiring these professionals. Florida’s pattern is under-funding school psychologists.
The National Association of School Psychologists wants to increase access to mental health services and supports in schools. Only a fraction of students in need actually receive mental health services, and among those that do, the majority access those services in school. Nevertheless, the availability of school psychologists remains inadequate to meet the mental health needs of our children and youth.
The NASP’s recommended ratio of students to school psychologists is 500-700 students to 1 psychologist. While that ratio is still too many students for 1 psychologist to handle, it’s still better than Florida’s current average ratio of 1 psychologist to 1,983 students. Currently, there are schools in Florida that don’t even have a psychologist on staff. Florida has only one-fourth the number of school psychologists it needs to properly care for its students.
Back in May of this year, Senator Bill Nelson introduced the “Increasing Access to Mental Health in Schools Act” to hire more mental health professionals in schools so that any student who needs help, is able to get it. He introduced legislation to increase the number of mental health professionals in our schools across the country that are experiencing critical shortages. Unfortunately, the bill did NOT move past the introduction stage. However, there should still be an effort to meet or at least work toward these ratios each year. Increased access to school psychologists is vital to improving the physical and psychological safety of our students and schools, as well as academic performance and problem-solving skills.
Back in January of this year, Rick Scott & the Florida Senate pushed to allow local tax collections to rise with the increasing value of property, as a way to grow education funding. Instead, Richard Corcoran, the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, steadfastly rejected the notion. So, here's the question. How can the Legislature and governor continue to put more money into education — as they say they want to do — with limited state resources and a cap on local revenue?
Florida's school district leaders loudly complained last year that the state provided only a small amount of additional funding -- failing to cover the full costs of required measures relating to mental health services.
While the state's contribution to the education budget has been increasing, the student population has steadily rose to its current 2.83 million. The state's education system has grown, which means added costs.
We NEED your help! Sign our online petition with the proposed goal of having more psychologists in Florida's school system. If we had at least 1 psychologist in every Florida school, we’d be closer to achieving our goal of the nationally recommended ratio. However, even if the education budget increases, it doesn’t mean that the funds will be allocated specifically for hiring more school psychologists. Because of this, we have ALSO provided an email script for you to email your House member for the issue of appropriation of funds.
This is the web address to help you find your House Representative member: https://bit.ly/1iSlvNn
The problem of not having enough psychologists in Florida’s schools can be resolved. It will, however, take time, money and combined participation on the part of many people. Our campaign can be successful in other ways, too: a politician talking about it on the campaign trail, getting media attention, or someone famous sharing our posts that is connected to a larger cause. These are just a few ways to getting closer to accomplishing our goal.
_______________________________________________________
Email Script:
Today’s Date
The Honorable________
Florida House of Representatives
Office Address
City, State, Zip
Dear Representative ___________:
I’m First & Last Name. As a constituent of ______________, I am writing you today because I am very concerned about the critical shortage of school psychologists in Florida. There is not enough money set aside to increase the number of school psychologists. Our schools in Florida should be enabled to hire more psychologists and funds should be allocated specifically for hiring these professionals. Florida’s pattern is underfunding school psychologists.
The NASP’s recommended ratio of students to school psychologists is 500-700 students to 1 psychologist. While that ratio is still too many students for 1 psychologist to handle, it’s still better than Florida’s current average ratio of 1 psychologist to 1,983 students. Currently, there are schools in Florida that don’t even have a psychologist on staff. Florida has only one-fourth the number of school psychologists it needs to properly care for its students.
• 181,000 school-aged students are struggling with depression or other mental health issues.
• 70 percent of those students do not receive help for dealing with their mental health issues.
• 1 in 5 students have reported thoughts of suicide in the state of Florida.
• Florida is ranked 49th worst for state-funded mental health programs.
The money invested in increasing the amount of psychologists in schools can only have a positive effect on our youth and their futures as productive members of society. Getting these students the mental health help that they desperately need will cut down on school violence, suicide rates and increase student success in their academics.
The problem of not having enough psychologists in Florida’s schools can be resolved. It will, however, take time, money and combined participation on the part of many people. I’ve signed an online petition at http://petitions.moveon.org/s/v2lYsn with the proposed goal of having more psychologists in Florida's school system. If we had at least 1 psychologist in every Flor...
The National Association of School Psychologists wants to increase access to mental health services and supports in schools. Only a fraction of students in need actually receive mental health services, and among those that do, the majority access those services in school. Nevertheless, the availability of school psychologists remains inadequate to meet the mental health needs of our children and youth.
The NASP’s recommended ratio of students to school psychologists is 500-700 students to 1 psychologist. While that ratio is still too many students for 1 psychologist to handle, it’s still better than Florida’s current average ratio of 1 psychologist to 1,983 students. Currently, there are schools in Florida that don’t even have a psychologist on staff. Florida has only one-fourth the number of school psychologists it needs to properly care for its students.
Back in May of this year, Senator Bill Nelson introduced the “Increasing Access to Mental Health in Schools Act” to hire more mental health professionals in schools so that any student who needs help, is able to get it. He introduced legislation to increase the number of mental health professionals in our schools across the country that are experiencing critical shortages. Unfortunately, the bill did NOT move past the introduction stage. However, there should still be an effort to meet or at least work toward these ratios each year. Increased access to school psychologists is vital to improving the physical and psychological safety of our students and schools, as well as academic performance and problem-solving skills.
Back in January of this year, Rick Scott & the Florida Senate pushed to allow local tax collections to rise with the increasing value of property, as a way to grow education funding. Instead, Richard Corcoran, the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, steadfastly rejected the notion. So, here's the question. How can the Legislature and governor continue to put more money into education — as they say they want to do — with limited state resources and a cap on local revenue?
Florida's school district leaders loudly complained last year that the state provided only a small amount of additional funding -- failing to cover the full costs of required measures relating to mental health services.
While the state's contribution to the education budget has been increasing, the student population has steadily rose to its current 2.83 million. The state's education system has grown, which means added costs.
We NEED your help! Sign our online petition with the proposed goal of having more psychologists in Florida's school system. If we had at least 1 psychologist in every Florida school, we’d be closer to achieving our goal of the nationally recommended ratio. However, even if the education budget increases, it doesn’t mean that the funds will be allocated specifically for hiring more school psychologists. Because of this, we have ALSO provided an email script for you to email your House member for the issue of appropriation of funds.
This is the web address to help you find your House Representative member: https://bit.ly/1iSlvNn
The problem of not having enough psychologists in Florida’s schools can be resolved. It will, however, take time, money and combined participation on the part of many people. Our campaign can be successful in other ways, too: a politician talking about it on the campaign trail, getting media attention, or someone famous sharing our posts that is connected to a larger cause. These are just a few ways to getting closer to accomplishing our goal.
_______________________________________________________
Email Script:
Today’s Date
The Honorable________
Florida House of Representatives
Office Address
City, State, Zip
Dear Representative ___________:
I’m First & Last Name. As a constituent of ______________, I am writing you today because I am very concerned about the critical shortage of school psychologists in Florida. There is not enough money set aside to increase the number of school psychologists. Our schools in Florida should be enabled to hire more psychologists and funds should be allocated specifically for hiring these professionals. Florida’s pattern is underfunding school psychologists.
The NASP’s recommended ratio of students to school psychologists is 500-700 students to 1 psychologist. While that ratio is still too many students for 1 psychologist to handle, it’s still better than Florida’s current average ratio of 1 psychologist to 1,983 students. Currently, there are schools in Florida that don’t even have a psychologist on staff. Florida has only one-fourth the number of school psychologists it needs to properly care for its students.
• 181,000 school-aged students are struggling with depression or other mental health issues.
• 70 percent of those students do not receive help for dealing with their mental health issues.
• 1 in 5 students have reported thoughts of suicide in the state of Florida.
• Florida is ranked 49th worst for state-funded mental health programs.
The money invested in increasing the amount of psychologists in schools can only have a positive effect on our youth and their futures as productive members of society. Getting these students the mental health help that they desperately need will cut down on school violence, suicide rates and increase student success in their academics.
The problem of not having enough psychologists in Florida’s schools can be resolved. It will, however, take time, money and combined participation on the part of many people. I’ve signed an online petition at http://petitions.moveon.org/s/v2lYsn with the proposed goal of having more psychologists in Florida's school system. If we had at least 1 psychologist in every Flor...