Franken Proposes $200M To Treat Mental Illness In Children
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- In Minnesota, there are 750 students for every one counselor.
Expanded federal funding, just reintroduced in the U.S. Senate, would expand student's access to mental health services.
Sen. Al Franken has proposed spending $200 million a year over the next five years to help treat mental illness in children.
That money would go towards training school staff to spot problems and get kids to the right people for help.
"It's like any health issue, but we don't focus on it as much as we do the physical/medical issues," Franken said. "This is behavioral medicine. Mental health is something we haven't paid enough attention to."
He said this bill could be folded into a bigger education bill that lawmakers are still working on.
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