A gun-control and school safety bill that had the potential to address school-based mental-health services is stalled in the U.S. Senate.
Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said last week the entire measure is on hold for now. The Senate had already voted 95-2 to pass an amendment to that legislation last week that addresses school-based mental-health programs and emergency planning. The legislation suffered a major blow earlier in the week, when an amendment that would expand background checks for gun buyers failed.
The mental-health amendment, a bipartisan measure sponsored by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., would encourage states to provide districts with technical assistance on implementing school-based programs. It would also make it clear that schools can use Title I money for schoolwide intervention services and to create or update school emergency-management plans.
