republic-os/legislation/us/states/de/152/hb-200.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO SCHOOL-BASED MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES."
description: "This Act establishes a mental health services unit for Delaware high schools. The unit is phased in over 3 years, beginning in FY2024, to arrive at a final ratio of 250 full-time equivalent students grades 9-12 for a full-time school counselor, school social worker, or licensed clinical social worker. Additionally, a unit ratio of 700 full time equivalent students for grades 9-12 for employment of a full-time school psychologist. This Act defines “mental health services” as prevention, response, and coordination services delivered to students in high schools. Mental Health disorders are the most common health problem for school aged youth. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), one in five youth are affected by a mental health disorder. Additionally, 50% of lifetime mental illnesses begin by age 14. Untreated mental illness leads to negative outcomes including increased risk of dropout, homelessness, substance abuse, other chronic illnesses, incarceration, and possibly suicide. According to the National Alliance on Mental Health, ninety percent of people who have taken their own life have had an underlying mental health condition, and suicides are on the rise. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, suicides are now the second leading cause of death for youth ages 10-14. Delaware schools need trained and experienced mental health professionals to provide prevention and support programs and services to students. This bill will lower ratios of students to counselors and increase access to mental health services for high school students. Districts and charters should prioritize the hiring of school counselors who provide mental health services over those who provide career counseling."
jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
session: "152"
identifier: "HB 200"
citation: "Delaware HB 200 (152)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Cyndie Romer", "David P. Sokola", "Edward S. Osienski", "Eric Morrison", "John \"Jack\" Walsh", "Kendra Johnson", "Laura V. Sturgeon", "Marie Pinkney", "Michael F. Smith", "Nicole Poore", "Peter C. Schwartzkopf", "Russell Huxtable", "Sarah McBride", "Sean Matthews", "Sherry Dorsey Walker", "Spiros Mantzavinos", "Stell Parker Selby", "Timothy D. Dukes", "Trey Paradee", "Valerie Longhurst", "William Bush"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 13
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2023-04-25"
last_action: "2024-08-07"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/a50714d9-699c-4f0a-a11f-5c03d7aaa841"
source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=130244"
source_hash: "ff715647a0964c63c60c1edf66efd7911362477c878a011fa6cec72c62cd4da5"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-de"]
---

# Delaware HB 200 (152) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 14 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO SCHOOL-BASED MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES.

This Act establishes a mental health services unit for Delaware high schools. The unit is phased in over 3 years, beginning in FY2024, to arrive at a final ratio of 250 full-time equivalent students grades 9-12 for a full-time school counselor, school social worker, or licensed clinical social worker. Additionally, a unit ratio of 700 full time equivalent students for grades 9-12 for employment of a full-time school psychologist. This Act defines “mental health services” as prevention, response, and coordination services delivered to students in high schools. Mental Health disorders are the most common health problem for school aged youth. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), one in five youth are affected by a mental health disorder. Additionally, 50% of lifetime mental illnesses begin by age 14. Untreated mental illness leads to negative outcomes including increased risk of dropout, homelessness, substance abuse, other chronic illnesses, incarceration, and possibly suicide. According to the National Alliance on Mental Health, ninety percent of people who have taken their own life have had an underlying mental health condition, and suicides are on the rise. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, suicides are now the second leading cause of death for youth ages 10-14. Delaware schools need trained and experienced mental health professionals to provide prevention and support programs and services to students. This bill will lower ratios of students to counselors and increase access to mental health services for high school students. Districts and charters should prioritize the hiring of school counselors who provide mental health services over those who provide career counseling.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Bill Text** (committee substitute) — [source](https://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GenerateHtmlDocument?legislationId=130244&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HB200)
2. **HA 1 to HB 200** (committee substitute) — [source](http://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GeneratePdfDocument?legislationId=140468&legislationTypeId=5&docTypeId=2)

## Votes

- SM — **21–0** (pass) · upper
- SM — **39–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Cyndie Romer — primary (person)
- David P. Sokola — primary (person)
- Edward S. Osienski — primary (person)
- Eric Morrison — primary (person)
- John "Jack" Walsh — primary (person)
- Kendra Johnson — primary (person)
- Laura V. Sturgeon — primary (person)
- Marie Pinkney — primary (person)
- Michael F. Smith — primary (person)
- Nicole Poore — primary (person)
- Peter C. Schwartzkopf — primary (person)
- Russell Huxtable — primary (person)
- Sarah McBride — primary (person)
- Sean Matthews — primary (person)
- Sherry Dorsey Walker — primary (person)
- Spiros Mantzavinos — primary (person)
- Stell Parker Selby — primary (person)
- Timothy D. Dukes — primary (person)
- Trey Paradee — primary (person)
- Valerie Longhurst — primary (person)
- William Bush — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2023-04-25** Introduced and Assigned to Education Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2023-05-03** Reported Out of Committee (Education) in House with 7 Favorable, 6 On Its Merits `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-05-04** Assigned to Appropriations Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2023-06-01** Amendment HA 1 to HB 200 - Introduced and Placed With Bill `amendment-introduction`
- **2024-05-07** Reported Out of Committee (Appropriations) in House with 6 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2024-05-09** Amendment HA 1 to HB 200 - Passed In House by Voice Vote `amendment-passage`
- **2024-05-09** Passed By House. Votes: 39 YES 2 ABSENT `passage`
- **2024-05-09** Assigned to Education Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2024-05-22** Reported Out of Committee (Education) in Senate with 5 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2024-05-22** Assigned to Finance Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2024-06-25** Reported Out of Committee (Finance) in Senate with 4 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2024-06-25** Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES `passage`
- **2024-08-07** Signed by Governor `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/a50714d9-699c-4f0a-a11f-5c03d7aaa841`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).