School Social Work Advocacy Update
Thursday, March 9, 2023
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Posted by: Valerie Arendt
Happy School Social Work Week!
Thank you to the North Carolina school social workers for all you do for the students, families, schools and communities of North Carolina! You are deeply appreciated and valued and we celebrate you, not just this week, but every day as you support your students, schools and communities.
Thank you.
I want to make sure you are aware of NASW-NC’s ongoing efforts to Restore Masters’ Level Pay for School Social Workers in North Carolina. NORTH CAROLINA BUDGET ADVOCACY EFFORTS: - NASW-NC made significant efforts in 2022 to advocate with the North Carolina State Board of Education to prioritize School Social Workers:
- IT WORKED! In January 2023, NASW-NC thanked the North Carolina State Board of Education (SBE) for including School Social Workers in their 2023 Long-Session Budget Priorities:
- NASW-NC staff including myself and NASW-NC Director of Advocacy and Policy Lauren Zingraff have been at the North Carolina General Assembly since session started in January speaking to key education leaders about the current student mental health crisis and the importance of School Social Workers in North Carolina and asking them to include the above budgetary asks.
- I attended every Joint House/Senate Education Appropriations (Budget) Committee for 3 weeks to make sure School Social Work is a priority in the North Carolina budget. The Appropriations committees are now meeting behind closed doors to draft the House and Senate Budget. Governor Cooper’s budget could be released as early as today and the House says its budget will be out the first week of April. NASW-NC will continue to advocate for these school social worker budgetary asks.
- On February 28, I attended the Education Appropriations meeting in person and DPI Superintendent Truitt presented the DPI/SBE Budget requests to the Education Appropriations committee. Superintendent Truitt did not mention School Social Workers and when asked by legislators about student mental health and school social workers, Truitt made it clear that school nurses are her priority and school social workers were the ask from the SBE.
- Superintendent Truitt stated: “Districts, please prioritize having a school nurse. And we will continue to advocate to the General Assembly that other positions are filled as well… down the road. I would add that we would like for all school nurses to take the, I believe it is DHHS that offers it, it’s an incredible student mental health first aid course so there would be that awareness of our school nurses and that they could, in turn, give our teachers that training as well.”
- This is Superintendent Truitt’s solution to the current mental health crisis with children: to have nurses take a student mental health first aid course (which does NOT exist in DHHS) and then teach this to teachers, instead of allowing for the professionally educated, trained and licensed mental health providers to provide these services to students.
- I let you know this as she is an elected official and she is up for reelection next year.
- On February 27, the North Carolina Child Fatality Task Force annual report shared with Governor Cooper and the NC General Assembly states:
The 2021 suicide rate (ages 10 – 17) represents the highest rate in two decades, and firearm-related suicides in particular have increased. A 2021 CDC student survey showed 22% of NC high school students had seriously considered attempting suicide and 43% of high school students said they felt sad or hopeless. The Task Force is recommending funds to increase numbers of school nurses, social workers, counselors and psychologists, as the numbers of these professionals in NC is far below national recommendations. The entire NC Child Fatality Task Force Annual Report can be found by clicking here. - On March 1, The NC Department of Public Instruction sent out a press release in response to current high rates of student misconduct. The North Carolina Center for Safer Schools recommended in a report to the SBE: "Employ a social worker at each school (elementary, middle and high) to focus on prevention, intervention and referral." You can read the entire brief here.
- North Carolina Social Work Advocacy Day – Social workers, school social workers and students were in full force at the North Carolina General Assembly on March 1 advocating for a number of items including Masters-Level Pay for School Social Workers. Thank you to the North Carolina School Social Work Association for coming to table and speak with legislators.
- ACTION ALERT: PLEASE email and CALL your legislators and ask them to make sure the $10M in recurring funds for Masters-Level School Social Worker pay is included in the state budget AND the $100M for SSW and Nurses. Please see these talking points and find your Senator and Representative here: https://www.ncleg.gov/FindYourLegislators
NASW-NC continues to meet with legislators to ask that School Social Workers are included in the North Carolina State Budget. We need your voice to also make this ask!!! LEGISLATION ADVOCACY EFFORTS: - Last week, Senators introduced SB 184 Restore Master's Pay for Teachers & ISP. This WOULD restore Masters-Level pay for school social workers. Unfortunately, because this is a Democrat bill with no Republican sponsors, it will not move past the Senate Rules Committee. HOWEVER, you should contact your Senator to either thank them for introducing the bill if they are a sponsor or ask your Senator to sponsor the bill and help move the bill forward through committee. Find your Senator here: https://www.ncleg.gov/FindYourLegislators
- On Monday, Senator Danny Britt filed SB 202 Restore Master’s Pay for Certain Teachers. This would NOT restore Masters-Level pay for school social workers, but we will work on asking for amendments if this bill moves forward.
- Representative Julie von Haefen is expected to introduce her bill to restore masters pay for teachers and instructional support soon.
If you haven’t seen the DPI created videos of the day in the life of a North Carolina School Social Worker, please watch them here! Full Video: Day In My Life Mini Film Kendra Tanya Vita Thank you again for all you do for the students, families, schools and communities across North Carolina. Happy School Social Work Week!!!
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