COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — A new Ohio bill would allow school districts to accept mental health days as excused absences.
Dubbed the Student Wellness Act, Senate Bill 330 was introduced in late November to codify mental health days for students. State Sen. Willis E. Blackshear, Jr. (D-Dayton) introduced the bill, which would allow — but not require — school districts to permit absences for mental health.
The Student Wellness Act would permit districts to enact a policy to count mental health days as excused absences. The bill says policies should include a definition of mental health days, a limit on how many mental health days a student may receive, and a method to determine whether the student would be referred to or receive school health or support services.
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Blackshear introduced the bill to help K-12 students with mental health pressures. According to a state survey, one-fifth of Ohio middle schoolers and one-third of high schoolers reported that their mental health was “not good most or all of the time” in 2023. Nearly half of all Ohio high school girls reported poor mental health in 2023, at 46%…