State Rep. Calls for More School Counselors

A new bill in the Texas legislature calls for more public school counselors. This one is sponsored by State Representative Eddie Lucio III (not to be confused with State Senator Eddie Lucio, Jr who forgets that the "State" in his title is not optional).

Lucio wants one counselor per 300 students... the current required ratio is 1:500. His proposal also provides the funding required to make the switch.

In a separate bill, Lucio wants counselors to spend less than 10% of their time dealing with issues not related to guidance and counseling. (For those of you looking for a clock, that comes out to less than 35 minutes a day for doing cafeteria duty, using the restroom, unjamming the printer, waiting for the elevator... and I'm not sure if student scheduling is counseling or guidance.)

Says, the Rep:

"Even children at the elementary level have issues that come up on a daily basis, things that are bothering them that they want to talk to someone about," Lucio said. "That's what attracts people to the counseling profession in the first place. This is not something I dreamed up out of thin air. Experts in the field say 300 to 350 students per counselor is what the best practices models recommend."

To the link!