II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1443

To amend section 10102 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act

of 1965 regarding elementary school and secondary school counseling.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JULY 27, 1999

Mr. HARKIN (for himself, Mrs. LINCOLN, Mr. WELLSTONE, and Mrs. MURRAY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to

the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

A BILL

To amend section 10102 of the Elementary and Secondary

Education Act of 1965 regarding elementary school and

secondary school counseling.

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 ‘‘Elementary and Sec5 ondary School Counseling Improvement Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—

8 (1) elementary and secondary school children

9 are being subjected to unprecedented social stresses,
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1 including fragmentation of the family, drug and al2 cohol abuse, violence, child abuse, and poverty;

3 (2) an increasing number of elementary and

4 secondary school children are exhibiting symptoms of

5 distress, such as substance abuse, emotional dis6 orders, violent outbursts, disruptive behavior, juve7 nile delinquency, and suicide;

8 (3) between 1984 and 1994, the homicide rate

9 for adolescents doubled, while the rate of nonfatal

10 violent crimes committed by adolescents increased by

11 almost 20 percent;

12 (4) according to the National Institute of Men13 tal Health, up to one in five children and youth have

14 psychological problems severe enough to require

15 some form of professional help, yet only 20 percent

16 of youth with mental disorders or their families re17 ceive help;

18 (5) the Institute of Medicine has identified psy19 chological counseling as the most serious school

20 health need for the normal development of our Na21 tion’s children and youth;

22 (6) school counselors, school psychologists, and

23 school social workers can contribute to the personal

24 growth, educational development, and emotional

25 well-being of elementary and secondary school chil-
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1 dren by providing professional counseling, interven2 tion, and referral services;

3 (7) the implementation of well designed school

4 counseling programs has been shown to increase stu5 dents’ academic success;

6 (8) the national average student-to-counselor

7 ratio in elementary and secondary schools is 531 to

8 1, and the average student-to-psychologist ratio is

9 2300 to 1;

10 (9) it is recommended that to effectively ad11 dress students’ mental health and development

12 needs, schools have 1 full-time counselor for every

13 250 students, 1 psychologist for every 1,000 stu14 dents, and 1 school social worker for every 800 stu15 dents;

16 (10) the population of elementary and sec17 ondary school students in the United States is ex18 pected to increase dramatically during the 5 to 10

19 years beginning with 1999;

20 (11) the Federal Government can help reduce

21 the risk of academic, social, and emotional problems

22 among elementary and secondary school children by

23 stimulating the development of model school coun24 seling programs; and
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1 (12) the Federal Government can help reduce

2 the risk of future unemployment and assist the

3 school-to-work transition by stimulating the develop4 ment of model school counseling programs that in5 clude comprehensive career development.

6 (b) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this Act to en7 hance the availability and quality of counseling services

8 for elementary and secondary school children by providing

9 grants to local educational agencies to enable such agen10 cies to establish or expand effective and innovative coun11 seling programs that can serve as national models.

12 SEC. 3. SCHOOL COUNSELING.

13 Section 10102 of the Elementary and Secondary

14 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8002) is amended to

15 read as follows:

16 ‘‘SEC. 10102. ELEMENTARY SCHOOL AND SECONDARY

17 SCHOOL COUNSELING DEMONSTRATION.

18 ‘‘(a) COUNSELING DEMONSTRATION.—

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may award

20 grants under this section to local educational agen21 cies to enable the local educational agencies to estab22 lish or expand elementary school and secondary

23 school counseling programs.
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1 ‘‘(2) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this

2 section, the Secretary shall give special consideration

3 to applications describing programs that—

4 ‘‘(A) demonstrate the greatest need for

5 new or additional counseling services among the

6 children in the schools served by the applicant;

7 ‘‘(B) propose the most promising and inno8 vative approaches for initiating or expanding

9 school counseling; and

10 ‘‘(C) show the greatest potential for rep11 lication and dissemination.

12 ‘‘(3) EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION.—In awarding

13 grants under this section, the Secretary shall ensure

14 an equitable geographic distribution among the re15 gions of the United States and among urban, subur16 ban, and rural areas.

17 ‘‘(4) DURATION.—A grant under this section

18 shall be awarded for a period not to exceed three

19 years.

20 ‘‘(5) MAXIMUM GRANT.—A grant under this

21 section shall not exceed $400,000 for any fiscal year.

22 ‘‘(b) APPLICATIONS.—

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each local educational

24 agency desiring a grant under this section shall sub25 mit an application to the Secretary at such time, in
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1 such manner, and accompanied by such information

2 as the Secretary may reasonably require.

3 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—Each application for a grant

4 under this section shall—

5 ‘‘(A) describe the school population to be

6 targeted by the program, the particular per7 sonal, social, emotional, educational, and career

8 development needs of such population, and the

9 current school counseling resources available for

10 meeting such needs;

11 ‘‘(B) describe the activities, services, and

12 training to be provided by the program and the

13 specific approaches to be used to meet the

14 needs described in subparagraph (A);

15 ‘‘(C) describe the methods to be used to

16 evaluate the outcomes and effectiveness of the

17 program;

18 ‘‘(D) describe the collaborative efforts to

19 be undertaken with institutions of higher edu20 cation, businesses, labor organizations, commu21 nity groups, social service agencies, and other

22 public or private entities to enhance the pro23 gram and promote school-linked services inte24 gration;
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1 ‘‘(E) describe collaborative efforts with in2 stitutions of higher education which specifically

3 seek to enhance or improve graduate programs

4 specializing in the preparation of school coun5 selors, school psychologists, and school social

6 workers;

7 ‘‘(F) document that the applicant has the

8 personnel qualified to develop, implement, and

9 administer the program;

10 ‘‘(G) describe how any diverse cultural

11 populations, if applicable, would be served

12 through the program;

13 ‘‘(H) assure that the funds made available

14 under this part for any fiscal year will be used

15 to supplement and, to the extent practicable, in16 crease the level of funds that would otherwise

17 be available from non-Federal sources for the

18 program described in the application, and in no

19 case supplant such funds from non-Federal

20 sources; and

21 ‘‘(I) assure that the applicant will appoint

22 an advisory board composed of parents, school

23 counselors, school psychologists, school social

24 workers, other pupil services personnel, teach25 ers, school administrators, and community lead-
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1 ers to advise the local educational agency on the

2 design and implementation of the program.

3 ‘‘(c) USE OF FUNDS.—

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Grant funds under this sec5 tion shall be used to initiate or expand school coun6 seling programs that comply with the requirements

7 in paragraph (2).

8 ‘‘(2) PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS.—Each pro9 gram assisted under this section shall—

10 ‘‘(A) be comprehensive in addressing the

11 personal, social, emotional, and educational

12 needs of all students;

13 ‘‘(B) use a developmental, preventive ap14 proach to counseling;

15 ‘‘(C) increase the range, availability, quan16 tity, and quality of counseling services in the

17 schools of the local educational agency;

18 ‘‘(D) expand counseling services only

19 through qualified school counselors, school psy20 chologists, and school social workers;

21 ‘‘(E) use innovative approaches to increase

22 children’s understanding of peer and family re23 lationships, work and self, decisionmaking, or

24 academic and career planning, or to improve so25 cial functioning;
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1 ‘‘(F) provide counseling services that are

2 well-balanced among classroom group and small

3 group counseling, individual counseling, and

4 consultation with parents, teachers, administra5 tors, and other pupil services personnel;

6 ‘‘(G) include inservice training for school

7 counselors, school social workers, school psy8 chologists, other pupil services personnel, teach9 ers, and instructional staff;

10 ‘‘(H) involve parents of participating stu11 dents in the design, implementation, and eval12 uation of a counseling program;

13 ‘‘(I) involve collaborative efforts with insti14 tutions of higher education, businesses, labor

15 organizations, community groups, social service

16 agencies, or other public or private entities to

17 enhance the program and promote school-linked

18 services integration;

19 ‘‘(J) evaluate annually the effectiveness

20 and outcomes of the counseling services and ac21 tivities assisted under this section;

22 ‘‘(K) ensure a team approach to school

23 counseling by maintaining a ratio in the ele24 mentary schools and secondary schools of the

25 local educational agency that does not exceed 1
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1 school counselor to 250 students, 1 school social

2 worker to 800 students, and 1 school psycholo3 gist to 1,000 students; and

4 ‘‘(L) ensure that school counselors, school

5 psychologists, or school social workers paid

6 from funds made available under this section

7 spend at least 85 percent of their total

8 worktime at the school in activities directly re9 lated to the counseling process and not more

10 than 15 percent of such time on administrative

11 tasks that are associated with the counseling

12 program.

13 ‘‘(3) REPORT.—The Secretary shall issue a re14 port evaluating the programs assisted pursuant to

15 each grant under this subsection at the end of each

16 grant period in accordance with section 14701, but

17 in no case later than January 30, 2003.

18 ‘‘(4) DISSEMINATION.—The Secretary shall

19 make the programs assisted under this section avail20 able for dissemination, either through the National

21 Diffusion Network or other appropriate means.

22 ‘‘(5) LIMIT ON ADMINISTRATION.—Not more

23 than five percent of the amounts made available

24 under this section in any fiscal year shall be used for

25 administrative costs to carry out this section.
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1 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section—

2 ‘‘(1) the term ‘school counselor’ means an indi3 vidual who has documented competence in coun4 seling children and adolescents in a school setting

5 and who—

6 ‘‘(A) possesses State licensure or certifi7 cation granted by an independent professional

8 regulatory authority;

9 ‘‘(B) in the absence of such State licensure

10 or certification, possesses national certification

11 in school counseling or a specialty of counseling

12 granted by an independent professional organi13 zation; or

14 ‘‘(C) holds a minimum of a master’s de15 gree in school counseling from a program ac16 credited by the Council for Accreditation of

17 Counseling and Related Educational Programs

18 or the equivalent;

19 ‘‘(2) the term ‘school psychologist’ means an in20 dividual who—

21 ‘‘(A) possesses a minimum of 60 graduate

22 semester hours in school psychology from an in23 stitution of higher education and has completed

24 1,200 clock hours in a supervised school psy-
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1 chology internship, of which 600 hours shall be

2 in the school setting;

3 ‘‘(B) possesses State licensure or certifi4 cation in the State in which the individual

5 works; or

6 ‘‘(C) in the absence of such State licensure

7 or certification, possesses national certification

8 by the National School Psychology Certification

9 Board;

10 ‘‘(3) the term ‘school social worker’ means an

11 individual who holds a master’s degree in social

12 work and is licensed or certified by the State in

13 which services are provided or holds a school social

14 work specialist credential; and

15 ‘‘(4) the term ‘supervisor’ means an individual

16 who has the equivalent number of years of profes17 sional experience in such individual’s respective dis18 cipline as is required of teaching experience for the

19 supervisor or administrative credential in the State

20 of such individual.

21 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

22 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section

23 $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2000 and such sums as may

24 be necessary for each of the 4 succeeding fiscal years, of

25 which $60,000,000 shall be available for each fiscal year
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1 to establish or expand elementary school counseling pro2 grams.’’.

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