Today, North Carolina joined 51 bipartisan attorneys general in announcing a historic settlement with Meta to address the harm social media has done to the mental health of young people. North Carolina will receive up to $645 million from this settlement to support student well-being across our state.
I am grateful for the years of work by Attorney General Jeff Jackson and Governor Josh Stein, our former Attorney General, and their colleagues on this lawsuit and settlement.
Student well-being and academic success are interconnected. Students cannot reach their full potential in the classroom when they are struggling outside of it. While North Carolina public schools celebrate historic results with graduation rates, participation and performance on college-level courses and exams by high school students, and the number of industry-recognized credentials earned, continued progress on these results will not happen if our students are struggling with mental health challenges.
During the Mo Wants to Know tour in 2025, I visited every region of North Carolina. I heard the same message everywhere from educators and parents about our students and from students themselves: they need more support for the mental health challenges and pressures they face today.
This settlement comes at an important moment. Our 2025 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, presented to the State Board of Education earlier this month, shows progress. Fewer students are carrying weapons on school property, missing school because they feel unsafe or getting into physical fights, and alcohol and marijuana use among our high schoolers are at 20-year lows. More students say they feel connected to school and have an adult with whom they can talk. At the same time, the survey shows why this settlement matters. Nearly 30% of our students reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, and 11.4% reported seriously considering suicide. These measures improved from 2023, but they remain too high, and the need is not evenly distributed. Students earning mostly D's or F's were far more likely to report feeling unsafe or hopeless than students earning mostly A's. We have real progress to build on and real needs still in front of us.
North Carolina has some mental health supports for our young people in place today, but we do not have nearly enough programs and personnel like school counselors, social workers, psychologists and nurses. Two examples:
The recommended ratio for school social workers is 1 for every 250 students; North Carolina was at 1 for every 1,055 in 2025.
The recommended ratio for school psychologists is 1 for every 500 students; North Carolina was at 1 for every 1,954 in 2025.
That is why student mental health is at the center of one of the eight pillars of the State Board of Education and North Carolina Department of Public Instruction’s (NCDPI) strategic plan. It is why we worked with the North Carolina General Assembly on wireless device legislation that helps students focus on learning during the school day, and why NCDPI released screen use guidance for educators across the state.
I look forward to working with Attorney General Jackson, Governor Stein, the General Assembly, the State Board of Education, my colleagues at NCDPI and other partners to help ensure that the resources from this historic settlement are used to support the well-being of our young people as effectively and efficiently as possible, so that every child in North Carolina, regardless of where they currently attend or will attend school, has access to the mental health supports they deserve.
This is a great day for North Carolina's children. Let's make the most of it.