Progress can be slow to reach the halls of the state Capitol, so we are glad to see Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan treat mental health care as a priority in the aftermath of the Uvalde massacre.
Any sincere legislative effort to prevent more school mass shootings has to address gun violence. But mental health is also a factor, and expanded access to care should be an easy consensus builder.
In a letter this week, Phelan laid out a $67 million investment in additional resources to improve Texas’ mental health system for children. Phelan said the budget for these measures can be drawn from a surplus in the main state program for funding Texas public schools.
