Starting next school year, Illinois public schools will offer mental health screenings to every student from third grade through high school. The questions can touch on depression, anxiety, trauma and suicidal thoughts. Yet under the state’s guidance, a school can screen a child unless a parent says no.
On Friday, the U.S. Department of Education told Illinois that is not good enough. In a formal demand, its student privacy office gave the Illinois State Board of Education until Nov. 13 to rewrite the guidance. The message is simple, and it is right: ask parents first, and never hide the results from them.
Key Takeaways
- Illinois law requires districts to offer mental health screenings once a year to students in grades 3 through 12, starting in the 2027-28 school year.
- State guidance lets districts screen students unless parents opt out, instead of requiring signed, written consent.
- The Education Department says that falls short of a federal privacy law, the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment.
- It also warns that keeping results out of a student’s official record could let schools hide them from parents.
- Illinois has until Nov. 13 to revise its guidance, and the penalty for violations can include the loss of federal funding.
What Illinois Mental Health Screenings Will Look Like
First, some background. Gov. JB Pritzker signed the screening law in July 2025, calling it “a national first that’s worth celebrating,” Capitol News Illinois reported. The bill passed the Senate 52-0. However, it cleared the House on a partisan 72-36 vote, with Republicans raising concerns about privacy.
On its face, the state’s case sounds reasonable. Supporters argue that schools already check vision and hearing, so why not check on a child’s emotional health? State Superintendent Tony Sanders said schools too often notice a struggling student only when it is already a crisis.
Nobody serious disputes that kids are hurting. Still, a vision test and a questionnaire about suicidal thoughts are not the same thing. One checks your eyes. The other asks a third grader about the most private parts of his inner life, and then a school keeps the answers.
Opt-Out Is Not the Same as Consent
Here is the core problem. The state board’s August guidance lets each district choose between two models. In an opt-out model, mental health screenings happen unless a parent declines. In an opt-in model, a parent must sign a written form first.
Notably, the guidance makes the case for passive consent. It says the evidence is clear that passive consent, “like what is typically used for vision and dental screening,” produces “considerably higher participation rates.” In other words, the less parents have to think about it, the more kids get screened.
That is exactly backward. Federal law already draws this line. The Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment requires notice and written parental consent before schools survey students on sensitive topics such as “mental and psychological problems,” religious beliefs and sexual behavior, the Education Department noted. A permission slip lost in a backpack is not consent.
“Students should not be pressured into disclosing intimate information, including mental health, about themselves without their parents knowing and consenting,” said Frank Miller, who directs the department’s Student Privacy Policy Office.
Who Gets to See the Results?
The second problem may be worse. According to the department, Illinois’s guidance makes it optional to put screening results in a student’s official record. That opens the door for schools to keep “unofficial student records they refuse to divulge,” it warned.
Indeed, the state guidance tells districts that screening results “generally are not the type of information maintained in a student’s permanent record.” It suggests districts consider keeping them as temporary records instead. Meanwhile, it notes that under Illinois law, students 12 and older have their own rights over mental health information.
The department reads federal law differently. Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, parents have the right to see their child’s education records and ask for corrections. Filing results somewhere else, or treating them as temporary, infringes on those rights, the department said. We have seen this pattern before in school secrecy policies that keep parents in the dark about their own children.
The Real Cost of Free Mental Health Screenings
Then there is the money. The law says screenings only happen in years when the state has bought a self-report screening tool and offers it to districts at no cost. Of course, “no cost” to a school district still means a cost to Illinois taxpayers.
Moreover, a screening is only the first step. Every flagged child needs follow-up, referrals and trained staff. A new statewide program that tests every student, every year, should prove it works before it grows. Rep. Steve Reick, a Woodstock Republican, also warned the results could end up becoming “reasons for denial of coverage of insurance,” according to Capitol News Illinois.
So far, Illinois has not said how it will respond. The state board did not immediately comment, WTTW reported. Notably, this is not the first standoff. The board refused a federal demand last year to drop its diversity, equity and inclusion programs, WTTW noted.
A Better Path for Mental Health Screenings
Fixing this is not hard. Illinois should require signed, opt-in consent for every screening. It should let parents see the questions in advance. And it should put every result where parents can find it, in the student’s official record.
After all, parents are not the obstacle to a child’s mental health. They are usually the first line of defense. That is why we have argued for putting families in charge of kids’ social media and AI chatbots. The same rule applies here. Schools can help, but they should help with parents, not around them.
Finally, this should not depend on which party runs the Education Department. Congress and state legislatures should write opt-in consent into law, so no future guidance can quietly flip the default again.
Frequently Asked Questions
When do Illinois mental health screenings start?
State law requires districts to offer them once a year to students in grades 3 through 12 beginning in the 2027-28 school year, as long as the state provides a free screening tool.
Can Illinois parents opt their child out?
Yes. Parents can opt out under the current guidance. The Education Department wants the state to go further and require written parental consent before any screening.
What happens if Illinois does not change its guidance?
The state has until Nov. 13 to respond. Violations of FERPA and PPRA can lead to enforcement actions and the potential loss of federal funding.
What do you think? Should schools need a parent’s signature before asking kids about their mental health? Tell us in the comments.
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