The bill creates a new statewide school-based student mental and behavioral health network by adding new sections to chapter 28A.300 RCW and chapter 28A.310 RCW. It directs the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), subject to amounts appropriated, to set statewide strategic direction and goals, provide state-level coordination to connect students to behavioral health supports, and align programming with existing protocols and laws. The measure requires specific components for coordination, establishes a regional school-based mental and behavioral health student assistance program coordinated across regions by the Washington Association of Educational Service Districts (WA-AESD), and authorizes regional educational service districts (including those licensed as behavioral health agencies) to pilot telehealth integration and provide in-person treatment where licensed. The bill creates administrative and procedural requirements rather than criminal or penalty changes: it describes minimum duties for regional programs (multidisciplinary team support, screening/referral/care coordination, evidence-based interventions, classroom education on mental health and substance use, awareness and family engagement activities, support for behavioral health career pathways, and collaboration with regional school safety centers). It also directs WA-AESD to set school participation criteria, evaluate and report outcomes, administer capacity assessments, assist OSPI with statewide data collection and submit an annual report. OSPI is to establish, subject to appropriation, a grant program to help districts meet recognition, screening, and response requirements in RCW 28A.320.127 and to pair grantees with state and regional supports. Multiple provisions are expressly subject to appropriation; the bill text in these extracts does not include appropriation amounts, funding sources, or implementation timelines. The extracts also reference other statutes and a strategic plan (for example RCW 28A.320.127, RCW 28A.310.510, RCW 28A.310.470, RCW 28A.300.630, chapter 129, Laws of 2021, and section 1, chapter 76, Laws of 2022) but do not include their texts, so specific cross-referenced obligations and details of the referenced strategic plan are not shown here.

If enacted, the state would set up a coordinated network to expand and oversee school-based mental and behavioral health supports, with OSPI providing statewide direction, WA-AESD coordinating regional teams, and regional educational service districts delivering screening, referral, education, and some treatment services (including telehealth pilots). In practice this would likely increase access to screening, short-term interventions, classroom education about mental health and substances, and training for school teams, and it would create grant opportunities for districts to build out recognition and response plans. The main effects fall on OSPI, WA-AESD, ESDs, and local school districts: OSPI and WA-AESD gain new coordination, reporting, and program duties; ESDs may need to hire or reassign staff (including nonlicensed staff and licensure candidates) and possibly operate treatment or telehealth services; districts can get grant support but will rely on those appropriations. Key uncertainties remain because the bill ties most activities to future appropriations and does not include funding amounts, timelines, or the full text of cross-referenced statutes, so actual rollout, staffing costs, and the scale of services depend on later budget decisions.