Sherrill signs $8 million school mental health pilot law

Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed legislation Monday creating an $8 million pilot program to connect students with behavioral health services through their schools, part of more than $125 million in state spending on youth mental health and wellness programs this school year.

The School-Based Partnerships for Access and Resilience for Kids, or SPARK, program will begin providing services in early 2027 in as many as ten school districts.  The Department of Children and Families will administer the pilot in consultation with the Department of Education.

SPARK is intended to give K-12 students another route to clinical mental and behavioral health care.  Its services will include psychiatric consultations, assessments, triage, short-term stabilization and medication support for children awaiting longer-term treatment.

The program will also help families find school- and community-based providers, navigate care authorizations and plan a student’s return to school following a mental health crisis, hospitalization or emergency room visit.

Students may be referred by a teacher or school mental health professional, but may receive services only with permission from a parent or guardian.

“Our kids are facing unprecedented pressures, and as they head back to school, we need to make sure they know that help is there when they need it,” Sherrill said. “With the launch of SPARK, we are building the continuum of supports to make sure every student has the opportunity to learn, grow, and thrive.”

School districts will be recruited this fall.  The state also expects to seek proposals in the coming weeks for a mobile application and secure platform that schools could use to manage behavioral incidents, suicide-risk screenings, harassment, intimidation and bullying cases, and behavioral threat assessments.

The new program will supplement the state’s NJ4S network, which provides prevention, brief intervention and other mental-health supports through regional hubs, as well as 90 school-based youth services programs and an array of health centers and family programs.

Sherrill also pointed to the state’s new bell-to-bell restrictions on internet-enabled devices in public schools and legislation she signed this summer limiting overnight and school-day social  media notifications to minors and strengthening online privacy safeguards.

The measure, S-4413/A-5253, was sponsored by Senate President Nicholas Scutari, State Sen. Joseph Vitale (D-Woodbridge), and Assemblymembers Linda Carter, (D-Plainfield), Andrea Katz (D-Chesterfield), and Vinnie Kearney (D-Garwood).