In 19-1 vote, the Alaska State Senate passed a bill on April 10 that seeks to empower educational bureaucrats with the authority to craft and implement mental health guidelines for all public school students.
The lone legislator to vote against the bill was Sen. Cathy Tilton (R-Wasilla).
While supporters of Senate Bill 41 say it will help in “normalizing discussions around mental health,” critics have warned that it could easily pave the way for educators to push topics like gender identity, sexual orientation, systemic racism, DEI and more – all under the guise of “mental health.”
Pushed by Democrat Senators Elvi Gray-Jackson, Forrest Dunbar, Loki Tobin, Scott Kawasaki, and left-leaning Republican Cathy Giessel, SB 41 directs the Alaska Education Board to develop mental health education guidelines for K-12 public schools. While it includes parental notice requirements, these are opt-out policies, not opt-in, meaning kids will undergo this education unless parents proactively pull them from class.
The bill now goes to the State House for consideration.
Introduced last year, the bill has raised concerns from parental rights advocates who warn that it could be used to push controversial ideologies that run contrary to traditional family values. Others have argued that mental health should be addressed by parents, not tacked on to a struggling government educational system that is already failing to teach basic reading and math skills to the vast majority of Alaska students.
