A New Illinois Law Allows Mental Health Days for Students

Since the start of 2022, mental health breaks have been considered an excused absence for K-12 students in Illinois, as new legislation was enacted allowing children to take up to five excused absences for mental or behavioral health yearly. Experts and parents said the change is welcome for children after a taxing two years of learning amid a pandemic. However, it’s not clear how many families are actually taking advantage of the policy. Allowing mental health absences to be excused “is really, really helping with mental health parity” in comparison with physical health, local administrators are saying.