This response was given using the 2020-2021 Ventura County Grand Jury Report form. The form should*

The Grand Jury finds that Ventura County school districts have obtained time-limited funding for initial establishment of Wellness Centers Oxnard Union High School District agrees with this finding. Oxnard Union successfully used the Mental Health Services Administration (MHSA) grant managed by the Ventura County Office of Education with funds received from the county of Ventura to establish eight physical Wellness Centers on our campuses. MHSA funding complimented local funding from the District's Local Control Funding Formula Supplemental and Consentration grants as articulated in the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) to ensure that the Wellness Centers were each staffed with two Student Wellness Specialists, and a wellness Guidance Technician. MHSA funding also supported outside provider Mental Health Services as well as furnishings and engaging environments for the Wellness Centers. Oxnard Union High School District wholly or partially disagrees with the Findings numbered

The Grand Jury finds that current funding for Wellness Centers in Ventura County Schools is not adequate for long term sustainability. Oxnard Union High School District partially disagrees with this finding. Local Education Agencies (LEAs) in Ventura County have access within the Local Control Funding Formula to dollars designated to specifically support Low Income (LI) students, English Learners (EL), and Foster Youth (FY). These monies, designated Supplemental and Concentration funding and distributed through the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP), vary depending on the unduplicated number of students in these groups enrolled in the LEA. Those LEAs with ongoing access to this funding can organize these dollars to create a sustainable source of funding for Wellness Centers within the District's current resources. Clearly, LEAs without this funding source, or where it is not robust, will not have the same access to this sustainability.

The Grand Jury finds that school districts in other California counties have successfully claimed Medi-Cal MH MAA matching funds to finance school-based mental health services Oxnard Union High School District partially disagrees with this finding. Despite our best efforts in Oxnard Union to claim these funds over the last six years, the process is so complicated that there is almost no financial return from our efforts to claim these dollars. We are unaware of LEAs in other California counties that have a successful system for reclaiming these funds, other than the one we attempt to participate in each year. We would like to be made aware of the identity of these LEAs in order to contact them and discover how they are using the system to reclaim these funds with more success.

The Grand Jury finds that Medi-Cal MH MAA is under-utilized as a funding source for mental health services by Ventura County school districts. Oxnard Union High School District partially disagrees with this finding. Again, the process for reclaiming these funds is so complicated and time consuming that there is almost no financial return from our efforts to claim these dollars. To utilize this funding source as a sustainable income for mental health services would require a state-wide systems change to simplify the reimbursement process so that it can be reasonably completed by the LEA during each school year. The infrastructure necessary to claim these funds on a regular basis will need assistance from state and county governments that lead the process that creates reimbursements. This is not a task local school districts can take on without assistance from those who govern Medi-Cal. Recommendations