The Link between Mental Health and School Expulsions

Educators and government officials are increasingly aware of the relationship between mental health issues and student behavior. Through a new project funded by the California Endowment, HHD is synthesizing the research and best practices on mental health and school expulsions. Although the project has just begun, it has been years in the making.

Twelve years ago, Jack Campana, a senior advisor on the project, was the health director for San Diego Unified School District. The state had passed a “zero-tolerance” statute a few years earlier; subsequently, if a student violated certain school rules—particularly bringing a weapon on school grounds, violence, and furnishing or selling drugs—he or she was immediately expelled.

About 400 students enrolled in San Diego schools were expelled each year due to zero-tolerance, according to Campana. With such high numbers of expulsions, Campana and his colleagues began to question whether or not mental illness played a role in many of the expulsions.

When the San Diego school district received a federal “Safe Schools, Healthy Students” grant, they opened a mental health resource center in the district and focused resources on expelled students. A mental health assessment was provided to students who were expelled under the zero-tolerance policy. The majority of those students met the qualifications for a mental health diagnosis, according to Campana. So the district decided to place mental health clinicians at the schools to work with students who had been expelled, their teachers, and also the students’ families.

The success of the program highlighted the necessity to change the zero-tolerance state policy to include a mental health assessment and a way to address the needs of these students, not just in San Diego, but throughout the state. One major barrier: a lack of funding.

But four years ago, California voters passed Proposition 63 (later to be named the Mental Health Service Act)—a 1% tax increase for residents with income of $1 million or more each year. It included the stipulation that 20% of the money generated had to go to mental health prevention and early intervention programs. In one year, the added tax generated close to $1 billion in revenue.

With the new availability of funding and a growing need to address mental health in schools, the California Endowment has asked EDC’s Health and Human Development Division to examine the research and best practices pertaining to mental health and school suspension and expulsions. Once this information is synthesized it will be used to develop a plan of action for schools to provide suspended and expelled students with mental health services and support.

“This project is a small initiative, but it’s an important beginning that I think will have national significance,” said Campana. “It could eventually lead to a change in state policy so that we can truly address the needs of these students.”