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First you'd have the problem of coming up with a reasonably valid paper-and-pencil screening instrument for children, especially a "brief" one - then you'd have the problem of the unreliability of giving a paper-and-pencil screening instrument to large numbers of kids (how would you know, for instance, if the kid scored badly because he/she was really messed up, or merely had an upset stomach when taking the test and failed to answer numerous questions, or maybe wasn't quite bright enough to know what all the questions really meant) - then you'd have the problem of getting enough doctors to provide further evaluation of all those failing the screen, including all the false positives - then you'd have to come up with treatment to provide to the pool of "disturbed" kids you ended up with (a major complaint I've heard about school psychologists is that they just want to evaluate, but provide little follow-up care to those referred to them). The whole idea seems impractical and fruitless to me.

Parenthetically perhaps, I have a niece who's going into her senior year of college on the way to medical school - she was telling me today that last year she took an observational internship at a hospital in Philly, following various physicians around to watch how they did their job - she said that every one of the docs who mentored her during this experience at one time or another told her specifically that she should reconsider and not go into medicine for a career (because of factors such as law suits, too much paperwork, government interference, and so forth) - it's possible that in a few years we won't have enough qualified physicians to treat the everyday medical problems we have, let alone take part in a grand scheme like this.....

I think there is already a screening program in place. From the report:

Figure 4.2. Model Program: Screening Program for Youth

Program

Columbia University TeenScreen® Program

Goal

To ensure that all youth are offered a mental health check-up before graduating from high school. TeenScreen® identifies and refers for treatment those who are at risk for suicide or suffer from an untreated mental illness.

Features

All youngsters in a school, with parental consent, are given a computer-based questionnaire that screens them for mental illnesses and suicide risk. At no charge, the Columbia University TeenScreen® Program provides consultation, screening materials, software, training, and technical assistance to qualifying schools and communities. In return, TeenScreen® partners are expected to screen at least 200 youth per year and ensure that a licensed mental health professional is on-site to give immediate counseling and referral services for youth at greatest risk. The Columbia TeenScreen® Program is a not-for-profit organization funded solely by foundations. When the program identifies youth needing treatment, their care is paid for depending on the family's health coverage.

Outcomes

The computer-based questionnaire used by TeenScreen® is a valid and reliable screening instrument.151 The vast majority of youth identified through the program as having already made a suicide attempt, or at risk for depression or suicidal thinking, are not in treatment.152 A follow-up study found that screening in high school identified more than 60% of students who, four to six years later, continued to have long-term, recurrent problems with depression and suicidal attempts.153

Biggest challenge

To bridge the gap between schools and local providers of mental health services. Another challenge is to ensure, in times of fiscal austerity, that schools devote a health professional to screening and referral.

How other organizations can adopt

The Columbia University TeenScreen® Program is pilot-testing a shorter questionnaire, which will be less costly and time-consuming for the school to administer. It is also trying to adapt the program to primary care settings.

Website

www.teenscreen.org

First you'd have the problem of coming up with a reasonably valid paper-and-pencil screening instrument for children, especially a "brief" one - then you'd have the problem of the unreliability of giving a paper-and-pencil screening instrument to large numbers of kids

It depends whether the goal is to identify people who might have bona fide mental illnesses, or to identify people who might be politically dangerous. Even if there's no way a program like this could do the former even remotely effectively that wouldn't prevent its use for the latter.

think about the vision and hearing tests. they do those in NY schools. remember, the government can decide whatever it wants. they could have "mental health technicians" do quick evaluations.
refer the kids to "psychiatric technicians" for medication. who needs doctors. the government is notorious for using whatever level of training it chooses to do what it wants accomplished.
remember, this is FOR THE CHILDREN!

the Brief Symptom Inventory, a short version of the SCL-90, is in wide use for screening adults. it takes 8-10 minutes to fill out. it is reasonably valid for adults. i don't know if there is a version for kids yet, but you could probably do a ten minute interview version using minimally trained technicians.
the technical part is the easy part. the only thing to stop this would be popular opposition.