I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 977 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to create 

a demonstration project to fund additional secondary school counselors 

in troubled title I schools to reduce the dropout rate. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 7, 2017 

Ms. SA ́NCHEZ (for herself, Mr. GARAMENDI, and Mr. LANGEVIN) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and 

the Workforce 

A BILL 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

of 1965 to create a demonstration project to fund additional secondary school counselors in troubled title I 

schools to reduce the dropout rate. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Put School Counselors 

5 Where They’re Needed Act’’. 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 977 IH

1 SEC. 2. DEMONSTRATION PROJECT FOR ADDITIONAL SEC2 ONDARY SCHOOL COUNSELORS. 

3 Part D of title I of the Elementary and Secondary 

4 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6421 et seq.) is amend5 ed by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘Subpart 4—Demonstration Project for Additional 

7 Secondary School Counselors 

8 ‘‘SEC. 1441. FINDINGS. 

9 ‘‘The Congress finds the following: 

10 ‘‘(1) Nationally, only 70 percent of students 

11 graduate from high school with a regular high school 

12 diploma. 

13 ‘‘(2) Every school day, 7,000 American high 

14 school students become dropouts. 

15 ‘‘(3) High school students living in low-income 

16 families drop out of school at three times the rate 

17 of their peers from high-income families. 

18 ‘‘(4) Only about 55 percent of African Amer19 ican students and 52 percent of Hispanic students 

20 graduate on time from high school with a regular di21 ploma, compared to 78 percent of white students. 

22 ‘‘(5) The dropout rate for students with disabil23 ities is approximately twice that of general education 

24 students. 

25 ‘‘(6) High school is the final transition into 

26 adulthood and the world of work as students begin 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 977 IH

1 defining their independence and forging their own 

2 pathways. As our next generation of leaders, our 

3 youth, are deciding their futures, they are faced with 

4 many challenges, including peer pressure and bul5 lying, high-stakes testing, the challenges of college 

6 admissions, the scholarship and financial aid appli7 cation process, and entrance into an ever more com8 petitive job market. Students need guidance and 

9 skills to help them navigate these complex decisions, 

10 which have serious and life changing consequences. 

11 ‘‘(7) School counseling programs are essential 

12 for students to achieve optimal personal growth, ac13 quire positive social skills and values, set appropriate 

14 career goals, and realize full academic potential to 

15 become productive, contributing members of the 

16 world community. 

17 ‘‘(8) Professional secondary school counselors 

18 are highly qualified educators with a mental health 

19 perspective who understand and respond to the chal20 lenges presented by today’s diverse student popu21 lation. 

22 ‘‘(9) The professional secondary school coun23 selor holds a master’s degree or higher in school 

24 counseling (or the substantial equivalent), and is 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 977 IH

1 certified or licensed by the State in which the coun2 selor works. 

3 ‘‘(10) Professional secondary school counselors 

4 are integral to the total educational program. They 

5 provide proactive leadership that engages all stake6 holders in the delivery of programs and services to 

7 help the student achieve success in school. Profes8 sional secondary school counselors align and work 

9 with the school’s mission to support the academic 

10 achievement of all students as they prepare for the 

11 ever-changing world of the 21st century. 

12 ‘‘(11) Professional secondary school counselors’ 

13 opportunities to assist students are often hindered 

14 by extraordinarily high student-to-counselor ratios. 

15 Currently, the average student-to-counselor ratio in 

16 America’s public schools is 471 to 1. The American 

17 School Counselor Association, the American Coun18 seling Association, and the National Association for 

19 College Admissions Counseling all recommend a 

20 ratio of one school counselor to 250 students and a 

21 lower ratio for counselors working primarily with 

22 students at risk. 

23 ‘‘SEC. 1442. DEMONSTRATION PROJECT. 

24 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—From amounts made available to 

25 carry out this subpart, the Secretary shall carry out a 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 977 IH

1 demonstration project under which the Secretary makes 

2 grants on a competitive basis to secondary schools that 

3 receive funds under this title and have a four-year ad4 justed cohort graduation rate of 60 percent or lower. 

5 ‘‘(b) GRANTS.—A grant under this subpart shall be 

6 for a period of 4 years and may be used— 

7 ‘‘(1) to provide additional school counselors 

8 during that period; and 

9 ‘‘(2) to provide additional resources (such as 

10 professional development expenses or travel expenses 

11 for home visits, and any services and materials re12 ferred to in subsection (d)) and to pay overhead ex13 penses. 

14 ‘‘(c) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con15 gress that a participating school should aim to provide, 

16 under subsection (b)(1), one additional counselor per 250 

17 students at risk. 

18 ‘‘(d) SCOPE OF COUNSELING.—The additional school 

19 counselors shall identify students who are at risk of not 

20 graduating in 4 years and shall provide counseling pri21 marily to those students. The counselors may identify such 

22 students at any time, but shall strive to identify them be23 fore they enter grade 9. Services shall be provided as long 

24 as necessary, including to the extent allowable and approVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:54 Feb 17, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H977.IH H977

SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 977 IH

1 priate, after the student’s cohort graduation date. The 

2 counseling provided— 

3 ‘‘(1) may include a full panoply of services, in4 cluding an individual graduation plan and other re5 sources, such as appropriate course placement and 

6 supplemental services (to include not only supple7 mental educational services tutoring if available at 

8 the school site, but also other tutoring as necessary, 

9 along with supplemental books and materials); and 

10 ‘‘(2) shall include meetings with each student so 

11 identified and with the teachers, tutors, supple12 mental educational services providers, and parents of 

13 the student, and may also include meetings with 

14 other relevant individuals, such as a probation offi15 cer, mentor, coach, or employer of the student. 

16 ‘‘(e) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—Funds under 

17 this subpart shall be used to supplement, not supplant, 

18 funds from non-Federal sources. The additional school 

19 counselors provided through funds under this subpart 

20 must be in addition to any employees who work in the 

21 secondary school guidance or counseling office, such as 

22 counselors, college admissions specialists, career develop23 ment specialists, guidance information specialists, or any 

24 other professional or paraprofessional. 

25 ‘‘(f) ADDITIONAL GRANT PERIODS.— 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 977 IH

1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A school that receives a 

2 grant under this subpart and demonstrates adequate 

3 improvement over the period of the grant is eligible 

4 to receive a second grant for a second period. If the 

5 school again demonstrates adequate improvement 

6 over that second period, the school is eligible to re7 ceive a third grant for a third period. The third 

8 grant shall provide amounts that decrease for each 

9 year of the third period and require the school to 

10 provide corresponding increases in non-Federal 

11 funds. 

12 ‘‘(2) ADEQUATE IMPROVEMENT.—For purposes 

13 of paragraph (1), a school demonstrates adequate 

14 improvement over a grant period if the four-year ad15 justed cohort graduation rate increases (or is pro16 jected to increase) by 10 percent or more over that 

17 period. 

18 ‘‘(g) SELECTION.—The Secretary shall carry out the 

19 demonstration project in at least 10 schools. The first five 

20 schools selected to participate shall each be from a dif21 ferent State. 

22 ‘‘SEC. 1443. DEFINITION. 

23 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this subpart. the 

24 term ‘regular high school diploma’ means the standard 

25 high school diploma awarded to the preponderance of stuVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:54 Feb 17, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H977.IH H977

SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
8 

•HR 977 IH

1 dents in the State that is fully aligned with State stand2 ards, or a higher diploma, and does not include GEDs, 

3 certificates of attendance, or any lesser diploma award. 

4 ‘‘(b) SPECIAL RULE.—For those students who have 

5 significant cognitive disabilities and are assessed using an 

6 alternate assessment aligned to alternate achievement 

7 standards, receipt of a regular high school diploma or 

8 State-defined alternate diploma aligned with completion of 

9 their entitlement under the Individuals with Disabilities 

10 Education Act shall be counted as graduates with a reg11 ular high school diploma for the purposes of this Act. No 

12 more than 1 percent of students can be counted as grad13 uates with a regular high school diploma under this sub14 paragraph. 

15 ‘‘SEC. 1444. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

16 ‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

17 this subpart $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2018 

18 through 2021.’’. 

19 SEC. 3. CONFORMING AMENDMENT; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

20 (a) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 1002(d) of 

21 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

22 U.S.C. 6302(d)) is amended by inserting ‘‘(other than 

23 subpart 4)’’ after ‘‘part D,’’. 

24 (b) TOC.—The table of contents in section 2 of the 

25 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 is 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
9 

•HR 977 IH

1 amended by inserting after the item relating to section 

2 1432 the following: 

‘‘SUBPART 4—DEMONSTRATION PROJECT FOR ADDITIONAL SECONDARY

SCHOOL COUNSELORS

‘‘Sec. 1841. Findings. 

‘‘Sec. 1842. Demonstration project. 

‘‘Sec. 1843. Definition. 

‘‘Sec. 1844. Authorization of appropriations.’’. 

Æ 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS