San Antonio teens advocate for health policies and shared leadership
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San Antonio teenagers are pushing to make their voices heard in shaping school health policies and they’re calling on Texas lawmakers to back two bills that would require a student seat on School Health Advisory Councils (SHACs). These bills have the power to transform the way health education addresses teen needs, from mental health to sex education.
House Bill 2104 (HB 2104) by Rep. Mihaela Plesa (D-Dallas) and the companion Senate Bill 939 (SB 939) by Sen. Royce West (D-Dallas) would require school districts to reserve a seat for students on SHACs. These volunteer groups, made up of parents, school personnel and other community members, work to ensure that local community values are reflected in health education.
The bills are the brainchild of the Healthy Futures of Texas Youth Advocates, a positive youth development program that helps high school students in San Antonio, Dallas and Brownsville learn how to take civic action and be leaders in adolescent health.
Texas youth have a strong need for health education. Teen birth rates have been on the decline nationwide, and since 2007, Texas teen birth rates have dropped by more than two-thirds. Though teen births are falling, Texas still maintains the 8th highest rate of teen births in the U.S. and the highest overall count. In Bexar County, there were almost 1,400 teen births in 2023, with a baby born to a teen mother once every six hours.
Additionally, sexually transmitted infections are on the rise. Syphilis, once nearly eradicated, has skyrocketed among Texas youth by a shocking 76% in just four years. There have also been significant increases in youth reporting poor mental health, such as anxiety, depression or suicidal thoughts. And physical health indicators such as obesity are concerning, especially in South Texas.
Youth Advocates believe that adding students to SHACs is an important step towards solving these problems.
“These bills give high school students the opportunity to make their voices heard on health-related policies,” said Z. Wang, a San Antonio Youth Advocate. “By requiring SHACs to include youth voices, health curricula in schools will be more reflective of the wants and needs of current youth.”
As a partner in UP Partnership’s Future Ready Bexar County Plan — a collaborative initiative involving over 100 partner institutions aimed at increasing the percentage of Bexar County high school graduates enrolling in postsecondary education to 70% by 2030 and guided by the core pillars of Healing, Access, Voice and System Supports —this policy plays a critical role in ensuring that young people have a meaningful platform to influence school health policies and amplify their voices in decision-making processes.
In 2023, San Antonio high school students participating in the Healthy Futures Youth Advocates program began researching their local SHACs.
“When the students began looking into it, we found that there was no youth representation,” said Sophia Montemayor, the Youth Advocates program manager. “Meetings were happening during the school day, so students couldn’t attend even if they wanted to. So, the youth began creating a campaign to make the SHACs and school boards more youth-friendly.”
In 2024, that campaign led to outreach to nine San Antonio School Districts, but Youth Advocates wanted to do more to support youth representation. While state law allows students to serve on SHACs, it was found that very few school districts currently have youth on their councils.
“I have seen firsthand what is missing in our health knowledge, as a student and as a young person living in a community struggling with practicing safe health behaviors,” said A. Bouchot, a Healthy Futures Youth Advocate in Brownsville. “Given that this education is so important, who better to ensure that students are actually receiving this education accordingly and accurately than a student experiencing the lesson?”
By giving students a seat at the table, Texas has an opportunity to transform school health policies into a true reflection of youth needs and perspectives. San Antonio teenagers are leading the charge, proving that young voices are not just valuable — they’re essential. As lawmakers deliberate on HB 2104 and SB 939, they hold the power to empower the next generation of leaders to address the urgent health challenges facing Texas youth. If passed, the bills to add a student representative to SHACs would go into effect this fall.
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