Washington School Counselor Association

 

Advocacy

                   

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Want to know how the WSCA Advocacy Committee is working to increase state-level funding for all school counselors?  
Sign up for our Advocacy email listserve click here!  

We occasionally send updates on how we are advocating for counselors with our state’s lawmakers, and ask for feedback on important issues as needed.  

HELPFUL INFORMATION ON SCHOOL COUNSELOR FUNDING/RATIOS:
1:236 ratio for High School Counselors - click here for information on the additional funding allocated for High School Counselors in E2SSB 6552 from the 2014 Supplemental Budget.  Click here for the actual bill summary.  Look at page 4 under the heading for Prototypical School Funding Formula for the description of the additional allocation for High School Counselors.
 
Click here for a chart showing the "proposed" School Counselor ratios in the "Prototypical School Model", which was passed in 2009-10.  The Quality Education Council used this chart as the basis for what funding would look like when our K-12 education system is "fully funded".  
Note:  WSCA does not agree with these proposed ratios and is advocating for more resources than what was recommended by the QEC.
 
Average Counselor ratios in each state - click here for a chart showing the average counselor ratios in every state, as per the 2013-14 data.

 

The House of Representatives has passed HB 1664, which will increase funding for schol counselors, nurses, socialworkers and psychologists. Thanks to representatives Rule, Ybarra, Ortiz-Self, Senn, Rude, Callan, and Stonier for speaking up fpr school counselors in the debate. And special thanks to Rep Stonier for recognizing National School Counselor Week on the floor!

2013-2018 Strategic Plan

WSCA Takeaways from the 2022 Session

  • This year’s supplemental budget included a $90 million investment this year for school districts to hire more school counselors, nurses, social workers and psychologists to support the physical and social emotional needs of students. For the 2023-25 biennium, the investment increases to $548 million. 

 
  • 2SHB 1664 directs the OSPI to only allocate the above-mentioned funding to a school district's demonstrated actual ratios of PSES staff, meaning the funds can’t be diverted and used to pay for other non-ESA positions. 

The prototypical school is assumed to have the following full-time student enrollments: 

  • 400 students for elementary school; 

  • 432 students for middle school; and 

  • 600 students for high school. 

The current funding allocated for school counselors, based on these “prototypical” numbers, means each school should have the following:

 

1:250 high school

1:360 middle school

1:800 elementary school

 

In HB 1664, these numbers would change as follows, beginning with the 2022-23 school year:

 

1:200 high school

1:254 middle school

1:403 elementary school

 

The bill also specifies that funding for ESAs has to be used to fund ESAs.

  • The budget also earmarked $346 million in federal funds for enrollment stabilization, partially backfilling school budgets that would have been cut because of decreases in enrollment. The pandemic sparked major drops in public school enrollment around the state. Without this stabilization backfill, school layoffs would have been likely, since state money follows the student. HB 1590, the policy bill to enact enrollment stabilization, was signed by the Governor. 


Other bills of interest:

o HB 1834: Concerning student excused absences for mental health reasons. 

o HB 1890: Concerning the children and youth behavioral health work group. 

o HB 1878: Increasing public school participation in the community eligibility provision of the United States department of agriculture. This will bring free and reduced lunches to an additional 600 schools in Washington, reaching 92,000 more students.

Legislative Updates
2022 week 1 update
2022 week 2 update 
2022 week 3 update
2022 week 4 update
2022 week 5 update
2022 week 6 update
2022 week 7 update
2022 week 8 update 

2021 week 14 update
2021 week 13 update
2021 week 12 update
2021 week 11 update
2021 Week 10 update
2021 week 9 update
2021 week 8 update
2021 week 7 update
2021 week 6 update
2021 week 5 update
2021 week 4 update
2021 week 3 update
2021 week 2 update
2021 week 1 update

2020 week 6 update
2020 week 5 uodate
2020 week 4 update
2020 week 3 update
2020 week 2 update
2020 week 1 update

2019 week 1 Update
2019 week 2 Update
2019 week 3 Update
2019 week 4 Update
2019 week 5 Update
2019 week 6 Update
2019 week 7 Update
2019 week 8 Update
2019 week 9 Update
2019 week 10 Update
2019 week 11 Update
2019 week 12 Update
2019 week 13 Update
2019 week 14 Update
2019 week 15 Update

Year end final Update
2018 week 9 Update
2018 week 8 Update
2018 week 7 Update
2018 week 6 Update
2018 week 4 Update
2018 week 3 Update
2018 Week 2 Update
2018 Week 1 Update



2017 Session Wrap Up- OSPI
Special Session Update
April 24, 2017
April 14, 2017
April 8, 2017
March 31, 2017
March 24, 2017
March 17, 2017
March 10, 2017

March 3, 2017
February 24, 2017 

February 17, 2017 

February 10, 2017
February 3, 2017

January 27, 2017
January 21, 2017
January 13, 2017


End of Session Update

March 7, 2016
February 27, 2016
February 20, 2016
February 5, 2016
January 29, 2016
January 19, 2016


January 17, 2015
January 23, 2015
January 30, 2015
February 6, 2015
February 13, 2015
February 20, 2015
February 27, 2015
March 6, 2015
March 13, 2015
March 20, 2015
March 29, 2015
April 4, 2015
April 17, 2015
April 25, 2015
May 1, 2015


Advocacy Committee Meetings
 

ASCA Position Statements