INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Senate recently passed bills written by Sen. Mike Crider that would provide grants to school corporations for mental health services and student safety initiatives.
Those bills were two of eight authored by the Republican Greenfield lawmaker that moved to the House after last week’s deadline. The second half of the Indiana General Assembly’s session began Monday.
Senate Bill 266, which would expand the state’s safe schools fund to provide $10 million in grants for mental health services, narrowly passed the Senate 29-20 on Feb. 26. Nineteen GOP senators voted against the bill as well as one Democrat, Greg Taylor of Indianapolis. Crider told the Daily Reporter a few days before last week’s vote that many of his fellow Republicans were voicing opposition to the bill.
During the 2017-18 school year, the state awarded $14.2 million through the existing grant program for school safety proposals, such as security equipment and school resource officers.
Crider said school counselors have had to address more social and emotional needs among students on top of discussing class schedules and post-secondary options. He said the bill would give schools — public, accredited nonpublic and charter schools — an opportunity to apply for a matching grant to help pay for school-based mental health and emotional wellness services through area providers.
If it passes as written in the House, the grant program would begin in 2021.
Another mental health-related bill Crider wrote, Senate Bill 359, would create individualized mental health safety plans for patients that would be shared with paramedics, police officers and firefighters in an emergency situation. It would also standardize the safety plan and encourages collaboration between mental health providers and any sort of psychiatric center.
“So, if they interact with that person,” Crider said about emergency personnel, “then how can we get the best outcome for that person?”
Crider, a retired conservation officer in Hancock County and former head of disaster management and security at Hancock Regional Hospital, said the bill could make authorities aware of a person’s mental health background during an emergency situation and could maybe shift people toward treatment centers rather than the criminal justice system. Crider said the safety plans could include names of the person’s caregivers, a list of safe places for the person and types of medication the person takes.
Senate Bill 359 passed the Senate, 49-0.
Crider described his mental health bills as “cutting edge” and “aggressive” for the state legislature.
“A lot of times on your first trial on those, it’s education as much as anything,” he said.
School safety PSAs
Senate Bill 325, which the Senate passed 47-2 in early February, would establish a student safety awareness fund to award grants to schools for student-produced service announcements. Crider said it’s based off a national program called “The Greatest Save Teen PSA” by KinderVision, a nonprofit.
Schools could apply for a $1,500 grant through the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute to help produce the PSAs, Crider said. Students can then research a personal safety topic, such as teenage suicide, dating abuse, bullying, farm safety and outdoor safety, and produce a video through a school’s media department. Crider said “it’s a conversation starter among students” to safely discuss student concerns.
“It’s not the answer,” he said. “It’s part of the discussion around school safety.”
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Senate Bill 3 — Internet crimes against children fund
Senate Bill 172 — Survivor health coverage
Senate Bill 266 — School mental health, safety, privacy and other education matters
Senate Bill 323 — Parenting time
Senate Bill 324 — Disabled veterans parking placards
Senate bill 325 — Student safety awareness
Senate Bill 359 — Individualized mental health safety plans
Senate Bill 424 — Privacy and tracking of rape kits
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