California State Auditor Report Number : 2015-112

Student Mental Health Services
Some Students’ Services Were Affected by a New State Law, and the State Needs to Analyze Student Outcomes and Track Service Costs

Appendix

INFORMATION RELATED TO THE NUMBER OF STUDENTS SERVED WHO ARE EMOTIONALLY DISTURBED AND ELIGIBLE FOR THE CALIFORNIA MEDICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

The Joint Legislative Audit Committee requested that we determine the number of students during the five‑year audit period, from school year 2010–11 through 2014–15, at each of the four selected special education local plan areas (SELPAs) who had a mental health service in their individualized education program (IEP) and report the number of students who are and are not identified as emotionally disturbed and who do or do not qualify for California Medical Assistance Program (Medi‑Cal) services.¹⁰ Student IEPs can indicate both a primary and a secondary disability that contributes to the student’s eligibility for special education and related services. To count emotionally disturbed students, we identified students whose IEPs indicated that either the primary or the secondary disability was an emotional disturbance. We considered students eligible for Medi‑Cal if the student was eligible for mental health services under Medi‑Cal in the same year in which the student had mental health services in his or her IEP. Table A shows a summary of these data for each of the four SELPAs we reviewed.

Table A

Number of Students by Special Education Local Plan Area With a Mental Health Service in Their Individualized Education Program by Category of California Medical Assistance Program Eligibility and Emotional Disturbance Disability

Special Education Local Plan Area	California Medical Assistance Program (Medi‑Cal) Eligible	Emotional Disturbance Disability	2010–11	2011–12	2012–13	2013–14	2014–15
Mt. Diablo Unified School District	Yes	Yes	130	157	136	120	112
	Yes	No	169	190	199	239	239
	No	Yes	172	155	110	109	106
	No	No	277	274	271	264	288
Total Students			748	776	716	732	745
Long Beach Unified School District	Yes	Yes	287	306	288	241	174
	Yes	No	228	355	344	362	340
	No	Yes	131	146	124	132	98
	No	No	207	294	262	261	243
Total Students			853	1,101	1,018	996	855
Riverside County Special Education Local Plan Area	Yes	Yes	211	232	429	524	585
	Yes	No	324	348	677	956	1,185
	No	Yes	249	293	386	377	392
	No	No	477	508	686	780	984
Total Students			1,261	1,381	2,178	2,637	3,146
South East Consortium for Special Education	Yes	Yes	136	175	195	232	255
	Yes	No	307	333	357	376	406
	No	Yes	128	158	157	166	201
	No	No	420	447	403	419	450
Total Students			991	1,113	1,112	1,193	1,312

---

Footnotes

¹⁰ The focus of the audit was on students who were potentially affected by Assembly Bill 114, namely those receiving mental health services. Accordingly, the numbers we present do not include students who were identified as emotionally disturbed but did not have a mental health service in their IEP.Go back to text

Back to top