Montana lawmakers urge fixes for children’s mental health program

(Daily Montanan) After hearing concerns from lawmakers about negative effects on children, Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen said the problems with a program that delivers mental health services to students in public schools will be ironed out by February.

Arntzen made the statement after several Democratic members of the Children, Families, Health and Human Services Committee said Thursday they were worried the program’s transition was already leaving children behind and would continue to do so.

“This just sounds like a train wreck,” said Sen. Mary McNally, D-Billings.

“It just seems like we’re driving towards a cliff,” said Rep. Danny Tenenbaum, D-Missoula.

“It sounds like there’s no backup plan,” said Rep. Mary Caferro, D-Helena.

The $2.2 million “bridge” funding the Montana Legislature allocated this year for the transition has been spent down.

Starting Feb. 1, schools need to be able to submit checks into a new accounting system, according to the Montana Association of School Business Officials. But the new system still isn’t in place, and fewer school districts are using the program.

In the 2021 legislative session, lawmakers directed the Office of Public Instruction and Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services to figure out how to deliver the Comprehensive School and Community Treatment Program after a federal change meant the state needed to provide hard matching funds rather than certify a soft match. But the transition has been fraught with complications, and some schools are looking at other options.

Mike Waterman, head of business services for Bozeman Public Schools, said his district may hit pause on CSCT and find a different way to serve students. Waterman, who served as spokesperson at the meeting for school districts, told the committee that a necessary memorandum of understanding had been worked out with much collaboration, but accounting guidance from OPI was “a deal breaker” for Bozeman given the added administrative burdens and possible related costs.

“Frankly, it’s a stumbling block for our district and others as well,” said Waterman, who also noted financial risk is a concern.

Jay Phillips, with OPI, said the department has been working hard to address issues raised by schools, and he believes most of the difficulties schools have are about where to find the money, which hadn’t been in their budgets before, not about administrative matters. In response to schools, he said OPI had changed some earlier requirements to recommendations and adjusted its processes, and the only requirements now are to provide a hard match, certify the funds are from a non-federal source, and provide a check.

McNally said she was pleased that the Office of Public Instruction was trying to work out the problems with the new system. However, she said the number of teams providing services to students had fallen from 268 in 2021 to 193 and likely was continuing to fall, and she wanted assurance more schools weren’t going to drop out of the program because of a snarled process.

“This is a case study in how to take an important and valuable, critical mental health resource for kids and blow it up,” McNally said. Earlier in the day, the committee had heard that youth are depressed and suicide rates need to be addressed. “We have a real problem here, and we are taking one of the better programs and making it unusable.”

Tenenbaum said he agreed. He said he also wondered if the situation would impact all schools equally or if it might affect some areas more than others.

Waterman said his larger district is looking at other options and has the infrastructure to pursue an alternate model. But he said rural schools may have fewer choices.

Rep. Dennis Lenz, R-Billings, said the number of school districts not using the program had actually started dropping several years earlier. He said he wanted to understand what was driving the trend prior to the changed requirement in funding.

Adam Meier, head of the Health Department, said remote learning is one of the factors that has driven the trend down more recently because CSCT is most applicable in a school setting. He also said some schools are offering alternatives, and options in communities may be part of it, but the trend also predated his start at DPHHS earlier this year.

Chairman Rep. Ed Stafman, D-Bozeman, said it might not have been the best decision to bring the Office of Public Instruction in to help find a way to deliver services under the new federal requirement. Before the change, the Health Department had certified a soft match from the state to Medicaid, but lawmakers roped in OPI to help with the transition because it works with schools.

Stafman said many parties agreed OPI was working hard on a solution for schools. However, he said he wanted to hear directly from Arntzen about a timeline because the buck stops with her: “And I want to know when this is going to be fixed.”

After his question, Arntzen, a Republican, gave lengthy remarks (see sidebar), but she did not answer his question. Stafman asked it again, and Arntzen confirmed with Phillips that it would be ready by February. Stafman said he hoped that would be the case.

“I’m optimistic that by February, this problem is going to be solved, and I pray that that’s the case,” Stafman said.