New social workers might be hired in 10 of Colorado’s elementary schools as a pilot program meant to help students navigate oft-tumultuous formative years, if a bill approved Thursday by a Colorado House committee is enacted.

House Bill 1017, proposed by Rep. Dafna Michaelson Jenet, D-Commerce City, would tap 10 schools with substantial needs across the state “with the intent of reducing the social, emotional, and behavioral issues, childhood experiences, disciplinary referrals, delinquency, truancy, and incidences of self harm.”

The House Education Committee, on which Michaelson Jenet sits, approved the bill Thursday on a party-line vote, referring the measure to the House Appropriations Committee.

Michaelson Jenet said her son was the inspiration for the measure. She recalled receiving a call from his school saying he had attempted suicide. He was 9. He was difficult to contain in school and often misbehaved. He spent 80 percent of his time in the principal’s office, she said.

She then recounted a past conversation with a friend.

“I told her I was looking at colleges for my daughter and prisons for my son,” Michaelson Jenet said. “And I knew I had a really big problem when the words came out of my mouth.”

The solution for Michaelson Jenet’s son and many others with special needs, unstable homes and other difficult circumstances could come from extra attention from social workers, she said.

“We can’t keep doing the same thing,” she said. “I know that I’m asking for something that’s hard, something that’s different. I’m asking us to be bold and think about a paradigm shift. In this model we can serve these needs in elementary school. One social worker or counselor or psychologist per 100 kids looping with them along the way.”

If enacted, the three-year pilot program would launch with the 2020-2021 school year. The pilot program would select 10 schools around the state with high levels of student needs, children entering the foster or criminal system, or suicides or suicide attempts, Michaelson Jenet said. Each school would hire a program administrator and someone to evaluate the program, as well as social workers for each grade at a ratio of approximately one to 100 students.

“To the extent possible, the school social worker shall follow the same students through each grade,” the bill says.

The program is estimated to cost $5 million annually, Michaelson Jenet said. Private organizations might cover half.

“If we do $2.5 million, perhaps from marijuana cash tax funds and $2.5 million from private foundations (can bring) us to $5 million,” she said. “And we get buy in from the community.”

Control schools would be studied in each district, with a pilot school to show whether the program is effective, Michaelson Jenet said.

Offering troubled children additional emotional support and resources could prevent suicides, keep children out of the state’s foster and criminal program,  and boost high school graduation rates, Michaelson Jenet said.

Rep. Jim Wilson, R-Salida, questioned whether remote schools would be able to attract social workers to live and work in their communities and whether the pilot districts could pay for the program to continue after the three years.

“Is it a realistic pilot that can be duplicated across the state of Colorado,” Wilson said. “The pilot says great results, too bad the rest of the state won’t be able to experience that.”

For some schools, attracting talent can certainly be a challenge, said Monica Johnson, superintendent of Strasburg School District 31J. And the financial component will vary.

“Those are decisions school districts will have to make,” Johnson said.

Kate Niles, a licensed clinical social worker in Durango, spoke in favor of the bill and said loan forgiveness programs, similar to those offered to teachers and doctors, could certainly attract new employees to remote schools.

“I think it’s a great opportunity,” Niles said.

Many other testified on behalf of the bill. They spoke of a crisis in the state’s schools, soaring suicide rates, traumatized students and little to no emotional help for them. Each dollar invested could return many more in turn, cutting costs down the road by preventing incarceration, drug addiction and preparing students for a professional life, they said.

“This bill has the potential to be the most impactful social experiment of our time,” said Lauren Ross, a mental health coordinator with the Cherry Creek School District.

At the earliest, the bill could be heard before the House Appropriations Committee on Monday. Sen. Rhonda Fields, D-Aurora, is sponsoring the measure in the Senate.

Also on Thursday, the committee shot down House Bill 1139, proposed by Rep. Terri Carver, R-Colorado Springs. The bill would have authorized public schools to teach new American civics classes, so long as the classes meet or exceed the state’s academic standards.