Under current law, a mental health professional must be licensed
by the department of education (department) in order to work in a school. The bill authorizes a school district, the state charter school institute, and a board of cooperative services that operates a school to employ certain mental health professionals who are not licensed by the department but hold a Colorado license for their profession. Before being employed, the mental health professional must satisfy other requirements for nonlicensed school employees, including a fingerprint-based criminal background check. Any mental health professional employed may be supervised by a mentor special services provider in the field in which the person is employed or a licensed administrator.
