SAMPLE LETTER: Licensed Specialist School Psychologist (LSSP)
Dear [Name of your Elected Official],
As your constituent, and as a school psychologist, I am writing to ask you to support
Senate Bill No. 128. The passing of this bill would allow public schools (including
charter schools) in Louisiana to seek Medicaid reimbursement for services school
psychologists ALREADY provide. This Medicaid funding is important so school
psychologists and local school districts can receive the funding to provide the often
necessary services to support the youth of Louisiana. The need for comprehensive
school psychological services and learning supports is illustrated with the following
research and statistics:
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Witnessing or experiencing school violence diminishes student well-being and
motivation, and leads to increased risk of aggression, school avoidance, and
dislike of school. Truancy and decreased school engagement resulting from
school violence are largely attributed to students feeling unsafe.
A study of 7,000 ninth-grade students and nearly 3,000 teachers revealed that
the bullying climate of schools can negatively influence achievement on
standardized tests.
Involvement in bullying is associated with many negative outcomes, including
increased risk of substance abuse, delinquency, mental health concerns, and
decreased academic performance.
Approximately 20% of students will experience difficulties with mental health
at some point during their school careers.
About half of all school-age homeless children have problems with anxiety and
depression.
All students, especially students with challenges, need to have access to comprehensive
school psychological services, and this needs to be a priority for schools. Wellcoordinated supports include school-based mental health services, multitiered systems
of support that enable schools to provide prevention, early detection of concerns, and a
range of increasingly intensive interventions for high risk groups and individual
students. Whole-school interventions such as positive behavior interventions and
supports (PBIS), response to intervention (RTI), and social–emotional learning, have
been shown to improve school climate as well as student achievement. In addition,
interventions that promote students’ bonding to school reduce substance use, criminal
involvement, gang membership, and school dropout. To ensure that all students
graduate from high school ready for college or career, I urge you to propose or support
legislation that:
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Maintains high expectations and strong accountability for student learning.
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Encourages school districts to implement evidence-based multitiered systems of
support (e.g., PBIS and RTI) that focus on prevention and intervention of
academic, behavioral, social, emotional, and mental health difficulties.
Promotes policies ensuring that instruction, assessment, and interventions are
responsive to individual student needs.
Ensures that students are free to learn in an environment that is free of bullying,
harassment, and discrimination.
Ensures all students have access to coordinated school psychological services.
Ensures that all schools have sufficient access to specialized instructional
support personnel, such as school psychologists.
School psychologists are central to this effort given our expertise in student health,
mental health, behavior, language, and the different learning needs of students. We help
teachers and administrators collect and interpret data to provide them with meaningful
information that helps identify the most critical issues and how to address them. We can
also help link students and families to resources in the community they need to succeed.
Additionally, Senate Bill NO.128 would create opportunities for licensed school
psychologists to contract with charter schools and private/parochial school to provide
Louisiana Bulletin 1508 complaint evaluations and other school psychological serviceswithin the scope of school psychology practice. At this time, there is no oversight for
ethical and legal violations for the services school psychologists provide. Thus, this bill
provides such oversight to ensure a higher level of accountability.
I urge you to advocate for this Senate Bill NO. 128 to ensure school psychologists can
continue to offer these critical school and community-based supports with greater
funding and standard of care. I believe this is vital to ensure all students reach their
maximum potential.
Thank you for your service to our state and for your advocacy in this area.
[Your Name and Address]