Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Creates a time-limited (through Sept 30, 2029) pilot program led by the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use, in consultation with the Secretary of Education, to competitively award grants to States, territories, tribes, and subdivisions. Grants would fund evidence-based peer mental health support activities in secondary schools, require oversight by a school-based mental health professional, protect student education records under FERPA, require evaluation and reporting to relevant Congressional committees, and provide technical assistance to grantees.
Scope: liberals want expansion; conservatives fear federal school intrusion
Narrow, noncontroversial education/mental health pilot; likely to attract bipartisan support, but requires appropriations and floor time.
Creates a time-limited (through Sept 30, 2029) pilot program led by the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use, in consultation with the Secretary of Education, to competitively award grants to States, territories, tribes, and subdivisions.
Grants would fund evidence-based peer mental health support activities in secondary schools, require oversight by a school-based mental health professional, protect student education records under FERPA, require evaluation and reporting to relevant Congressional committees, and provide technical assistance to grantees.
Substantively modest, bipartisan-friendly pilot with built-in safeguards improves odds, but lacks funding authorization and must clear committee and floor scheduling.
How solid the drafting looks.
Scope: liberals want expansion; conservatives fear federal school intrusion
These are examples from the analysis, not a ranked list of the most-affected groups.
Scope: liberals want expansion; conservatives fear federal school intrusion
Strongly supportive of expanding student mental health supports and destigmatizing care through peer models.
Views the pilot, evidence requirement, and evaluation as responsible ways to build scalable programs and reach underserved students.
Generally favorable but pragmatic and cautious.
Supports pilot testing peer support while insisting on rigorous evaluation, accountability, and limited federal burden or duplication with existing programs.
Cautious or skeptical.
Some openness to peer support locally, but concerned about federal involvement in schools, long-term funding, parental rights, and potential ideological content.
Reached or meaningfully advanced
Reached or meaningfully advanced
Still ahead
Still ahead
Still ahead
Substantively modest, bipartisan-friendly pilot with built-in safeguards improves odds, but lacks funding authorization and must clear committee and floor scheduling.
The bill has not accumulated any surfaced votes yet.
Scope: liberals want expansion; conservatives fear federal school intrusion
Substantively modest, bipartisan-friendly pilot with built-in safeguards improves odds, but lacks funding authorization and must clear comm…
Pro readers get the full perspective split, passage barriers, legislative design review, stakeholder impact map, and lens-based policy tradeoff analysis for Peer to Peer Mental Health Support Act.
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