Chair Nosse, members of the House Behavioral Health and Health Care Committee,
The Oregon Education Association represents over 41,000 educators and education service professionals across the state, from pre-k through our community colleges. Our members are teachers, bus drivers, custodians, teacher assistants, nutrition specialists, community college faculty and staff, and more.
OEA supports HB 4070.
School based health centers (SBHCs) make a range of health-related services accessible to students, from routine physicals, well-child exams, and sports exams to alcohol and drug counseling. This range of services is available on campus to students so that they do not have to miss valuable instruction time in order to meet their health needs. Additionally, parents do not need to take time off work to transport their child to the doctor.
HB 4070 would be a good step in keeping the doors of this critical service open to our youth by:
- Helping school communities plan for implementing a SBHC,
- Adjusting funding for inflation,
- Providing infrastructure, and
- Increase the school-based mental health fund.
Student mental health needs must be addressed with every tool in our toolbox, SBHCs provide these services to students with accessible staff and services. This can have a positive impact to a whole school system, as students can show up ready for learning while having their health care needs me. HB 4070 would issue grants to continue to expand behavioral health services to students, not stretching the school state fund while providing support to educators, students and the school community as a whole.
Please pass HB 4070 with a do-pass recommendation
