When Schools Overreach: HB 355 and the Threat to Parents and Students in Virginia

As Virginia’s public schools fail at their core mission—educating children—state legislators are expanding their role in ways that encroach on parental rights.

Debra Gardner, a former social worker who was first elected to Virginia’s House of Delegates in 2023, introduced HB 355 in January. Beginning in the 2028–2029 school year, the bill would require Virginia’s public schools to administer annual mental health screenings to all students in grades 6–12, unless parents choose to opt out their children. The legislation has passed both chambers of the General Assembly and is now awaiting action from Governor Abigail Spanberger, who faces an April 13 deadline to sign, veto, or amend the bill.

Virginia’s public schools are failing at teaching children basic subjects. The table below shows that over a quarter of children in the state’s public schools are failing their Standards of Learning (SOLs) tests. Rates of failure are significantly higher among economically disadvantaged students.

Failure Rate of Virginia SOLs 2024-2025

Virginia’s public schools clearly are underperforming in their core purpose and should not expand into the area of mental health services.

The bill further breaches the parental boundary. This type of overreach is based on the premise that parents are incompetent at handling their children’s mental health needs and school officials are somehow better at it.

While such invasive mental health screening is inappropriate for public schools, legislators have deliberately structured the screening as opt-out rather than opt-in to maximize participation. Many parents do not realize the inappropriate questions that public school districts are posing to their children. The Fairfax County Youth Survey, for example, asks children in grades 6, 8, 10, and 12 about their drug use and sexual proclivities.

Public schools further have a history of weak data security, making the exposure of students’ sensitive mental health information a serious concern. For example, in 2020, Fairfax County Public Schools disclosed thousands of documents that included students’ names, letter grades, disability status, and mental health information.

Some public school districts, particularly those in Northern Virginia, are likely to use the mandated screener as a way to identify and target ideologically conservative students.

In 2025 Fairfax County Public Schools administered the Student Experience Survey, which students were promised would be confidential. In the “Health and Wellness” section, a student criticized the district’s refusal to abide by President Donald Trump’s executive orders, “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling” and “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.” About a week after the student shared his concerns on the “confidential” survey, a school counselor pulled him from class to discuss his answers, which she held in her hand. 

Lastly, implementing this initiative is not without cost. Sadly, public schools are becoming job programs in which employees are losing sight of their core mission. In Fairfax County Public Schools, for example, there are 2,346 non-school-based administrators with salaries totaling $272 million this year. Given the high percentage of Virginia students failing standardized tests, resources would be better spent on hiring more teachers rather than additional administrators and counselors to implement an unnecessary, state-mandated screening.

Virginia’s public schools are struggling to fulfill their primary mission of educating children, yet legislators are pushing to expand their reach into sensitive areas like mental health. HB 355 not only diverts resources from improving academic outcomes but also infringes on parental rights, exposes students to invasive surveys, and risks mishandling sensitive information.

With persistent achievement gaps, weak data security, and mounting administrative costs, the state’s priority should be strengthening teaching and learning—not mandating broad mental health screenings that many parents do not support. Protecting students’ privacy, supporting parents’ authority, and focusing on core educational needs should take precedence over expanding bureaucratic programs that schools are ill-equipped to manage.

Gov. Spanberger should veto HB 355.

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