We need to educate Congress on the demand for qualified school counselors and urge them to pass meaningful legislation that will provide schools with the necessary funding to hire school counselors. We have made very significant progress. For the first time in six years, Congress is seriously considering funding the Elementary School Counseling Demonstration Act. An ACA member testified before the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions about the dire need for more school counselors. Administration leaders, including President Clinton, have called for more school counselors.
More work remains to be done.
Please contact your Members of Congress and urge them to co-sponsor the following pieces of legislation. Recently, after a visit by ACA, Senator Kennedy was added as a co-sponsor to the bill. No Republicans have co-sponsored the legislation. Modeled after the COPS program, the bill would provide matching grants to schools to recruit, train, and hire 100,000 new school counselors, school psychologists, and school social workers. The bill currently has 26 cosponsors - all Democrats.