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San Antonio youngsters are pushing to make their voices heard in shaping college well being insurance policies they usually’re calling on Texas lawmakers to again two payments that may require a scholar seat on College Well being Advisory Councils (SHACs). These payments have the facility to rework the best way well being schooling addresses teen wants, from psychological well being to intercourse schooling.
Home Invoice 2104 (HB 2104) by Rep. Mihaela Plesa (D-Dallas) and the companion Senate Invoice 939 (SB 939) by Sen. Royce West (D-Dallas) would require college districts to order a seat for college students on SHACs. These volunteer teams, made up of oldsters, college personnel and different group members, work to make sure that local people values are mirrored in well being schooling.
The payments are the brainchild of the Wholesome Futures of Texas Youth Advocates, a optimistic youth improvement program that helps highschool college students in San Antonio, Dallas and Brownsville discover ways to take civic motion and be leaders in adolescent well being.
Texas youth have a powerful want for well being schooling. Teen beginning charges have been on the decline nationwide, and since 2007, Texas teen beginning charges have dropped by greater than two-thirds. Although teen births are falling, Texas nonetheless maintains the eighth highest price of juvenile births within the U.S. and the very best total rely. In Bexar County, there have been virtually 1,400 teen births in 2023, with a child born to a teen mom as soon as each six hours.
Moreover, sexually transmitted infections are on the rise. Syphilis, as soon as practically eradicated, has skyrocketed amongst Texas youth by a stunning 76% in simply 4 years. There have additionally been important will increase in youth reporting poor psychological well being, equivalent to anxiousness, melancholy or suicidal ideas. And bodily well being indicators equivalent to weight problems are regarding, particularly in South Texas.
Youth Advocates imagine that including college students to SHACs is a crucial step in the direction of fixing these issues.
“These payments give highschool college students the chance to make their voices heard on health-related insurance policies,” stated Z. Wang, a San Antonio Youth Advocate. “By requiring SHACs to incorporate youth voices, well being curricula in colleges will probably be extra reflective of the needs and desires of present youth.”
As a companion in UP Partnership’s Future Prepared Bexar County Plan — a collaborative initiative involving over 100 companion establishments geared toward rising the share of Bexar County highschool graduates enrolling in postsecondary schooling to 70% by 2030 and guided by the core pillars of Therapeutic, Entry, Voice and System Helps —this coverage performs a essential position in making certain that younger folks have a significant platform to affect college well being insurance policies and amplify their voices in decision-making processes.
In 2023, San Antonio highschool college students collaborating within the Wholesome Futures Youth Advocates program started researching their native SHACs.
“When the scholars started wanting into it, we discovered that there was no youth illustration,” stated Sophia Montemayor, the Youth Advocates program supervisor. “Conferences have been taking place through the college day, so college students couldn’t attend even when they needed to. So, the youth started making a marketing campaign to make the SHACs and faculty boards extra youth-friendly.”
In 2024, that marketing campaign led to outreach to 9 San Antonio College Districts, however Youth Advocates needed to do extra to help youth illustration. Whereas state regulation permits college students to serve on SHACs, it was discovered that only a few college districts at present have youth on their councils.
“I’ve seen firsthand what’s lacking in our well being information, as a scholar and as a youngster dwelling in a group combating practising secure well being behaviors,” stated A. Bouchot, a Wholesome Futures Youth Advocate in Brownsville. “On condition that this schooling is so essential, who higher to make sure that college students are literally receiving this schooling accordingly and precisely than a scholar experiencing the lesson?”
By giving college students a seat on the desk, Texas has a chance to rework college well being insurance policies into a real reflection of youth wants and views. San Antonio youngsters are main the cost, proving that younger voices will not be simply invaluable — they’re important. As lawmakers deliberate on HB 2104 and SB 939, they maintain the facility to empower the following technology of leaders to deal with the pressing well being challenges going through Texas youth. If handed, the payments so as to add a scholar consultant to SHACs would go into impact this fall.
