Arkansas Governor and Education Secretary Encourage Schools to Participate in Mental Health Pilot Program

The governor and education secretary penned a message to Arkansas school superintendents Tuesday encouraging them to participate in a novel pilot initiative aimed at enhancing access to mental health services for students and regulating in-school cellphone utilization.

Derived from suggestions from superintendents who conferred with Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Education Secretary Jacob Oliva in recent weeks, the project is poised to allocate funding for telehealth mental health provisions and to assist in locating mental health professionals and navigating insurance concerns, as per a press release.

The experimental plan will also provide financial backing to all secondary schools that put forth applications to offer pouches for students to confine their phones during the school day, thereby curbing screen time and social media engagement. Sanders and Oliva underscored that increased exposure to social media elevates the risk of mental health issues among youngsters, elucidated in their letter.

“The Natural State is not unique; youth depression, anxiety, and isolation have escalated nationwide,” they articulated. “Nevertheless, we have a distinctive chance to tackle this predicament collaboratively. We have made this a focal point in our Administration and are dedicating state resources to combat this crisis.”

Sanders endorsed a 2023 law that aimed to mandate minors to secure parental approval before creating a social media account, but a federal judge halted the law in August, shortly before it was slated for implementation.

In May, Sanders distributed copies of Jonathan Haidt’s book, The Anxious Generation, to all state and territorial governors in the United States and Arkansas lawmakers. She expressed backing for four main objectives: prohibiting smartphones before high school, restricting social media usage before age 16, establishing phone-free school environments, and encouraging more outdoor play and childhood autonomy.

Initiatives to curtail smartphone dependency have been gaining momentum nationwide, exemplified by California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom who recently pledging to limit smartphone utilization during school hours. This commitment followed a call by the U.S. surgeon general for Congress to mandate warning labels on social media platforms and coincided with the Los Angeles Unified School District’s approval of a ban on cellphones, scheduled to be enforced in January.

Florida pioneered the movement prohibiting cellphones in schools last year. Idaho and Ohio have enacted legislation to restrict phone use, while as many as eight other state legislatures are contemplating similar measures, as reported by Education Week.