THE ELEMENTARY & SECONDARY SCHOOL COUNSELING IMPROVEMENT ACT

 

STATUS: The Elementary School Counseling Demonstration Act, a discretionary grant program, was first authorized in 1994 under Title X of the Improving America's Schools Act (Public Law 103-382). Congress appropriated $20 million for the program in FY 2000 and increased the appropriation to $30 million in FY 2001. In FY 2000, grants were awarded to 58 school districts in 30 states. Thirty-one (31) additional grants in four new states were awarded for the 2001 fiscal year.

The House approved an amendment to the No Child Left Behind Act (H.R. 1), sponsored by Rep. Marge Roukema (R-NJ), to reauthorize the program and expand it to secondary schools. A similar amendment to the Better Education for Students and Teachers Act (S.1), sponsored by Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS), was approved by the Senate. The House- and Senate-approved bills are now before a House-Senate Conference Committee.

The National Association of Social Workers urges support for the reauthorization of the program, its expansion to secondary schools, and funding of $100 million in FY 2002 to ensure continued funding for the current grantees and new awards to secondary schools.

NEED: America's school students do not have adequate access to counseling and mental health services. The National Action Agenda for Children's Mental Health, issued by the Office of the Surgeon General in January 2001, reports that 1 in 10 children suffers from a mental illness severe enough to impair development. The National Institute of Mental Health reports that although 7.5 million children under the age of 18 require mental health services, only one in five children receive needed services. The implications for education and school success are enormous. The serious shortage of counseling and mental health services, provided by qualified school social workers, school counselors, and school psychologists, is undermining efforts to improve academic achievement and make schools safe.

The current Elementary School Counseling Demonstration Program is the only federal program designed to increase elementary school students' access to qualified school-based mental health professionals. No federal program currently exists to increase access for secondary school students. The current student-to-counselor ratio for K-12 is 500:1, twice the maximum ratio of 250:1 recommended by the American School Health Association. Ratios for school social workers and school psychologists are even higher.

RESULTS: The Elementary School Counseling Demonstration program has proven to prevent school violence and support academic achievement. Under the model for the current program, Smoother Sailing in Des Moines, Iowa, comprehensive counseling services:

• Decreased referrals to the principal’s office by nearly half.
• Decreased use of weapons, force, and threatening of others.
• Decreased school suspensions.
• Increased feelings of student safety.

One of the FY 2000 grantees, which instituted the program in three schools in Bowling Green, Kentucky, reports that:

• Suspensions and visits to the principal's office are becoming rare occurrences.
• More pupils are attending school and performing better in class.
• The number of suspended pupils has declined from an average of 21 pupils a month to 11.

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ELEMENTARY SCHOOL COUNSELING DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM

First Year - FY 2000: $20 million

Grants Ranging from $145,000-$400,000 Awarded to 58 School Districts in 30 States

Second Year - FY 2001: $30 million

First Year Programs Awarded Continuing Second Year Grants

New Grants Ranging from $91,480-$396,540 Awarded to 31 School Districts in 19 States

TWO YEAR TOTAL: 89 School Districts in 34 States

ALABAMA FY 2000 - $370,309 Tuscaloosa	COLORADO FY 2000 - $541,716 Denver County Moffat County (Craig)	IDAHO FY 2000 - $392,160 Nampa
ALASKA FY 2000 - $920,585 Copper River (Glennallen) Anchorage Fairbanks	CONNECTICUT FY 2001 - $388,599 Hartford	ILLINOIS FY 2001 - $376,553 Community Consolidated #65 (Evanston)
ARIZONA FY 2000 - $1,031,276 Tuba City Tucson Dysart (El Mirage) FY 2001 - $787,046 Mary C. O'Brien Accommodation (Florence) Peoria Unified No. 11 (Glendale)	FLORIDA FY 2000 - $1,103,781 Duval County (Jacksonville) Broward County (Ft. Lauderdale) Sarsota County	KANSAS FY 2000 - $389,801 Wichita FY 2001 - $357,554 Kansas City
CALIFORNIA FY 2000 - $2,551,329 Yuba City Mt. Pleasant (San Jose) Alum Rock (San Jose) Lamont Imperial County (El Centro) Jurupa (Riverside) Newport-Mesa FY 2001 - $3,600,407 Healdsburg Moreno Valley Lennox Centralia (Buena Park) Sanger Santa Paula Fontana Marysville Stockton Napa	GEORGIA FY 2000 - $310,430 DeKalb County	KENTUCKY FY 2000 - $1,251,127 Bowling Green Harlan County Montgomery County (Mt. Sterling) Owensboro FY 2001 - $91,480 Russell

 

LOUISIANA FY 2000 - $399,261 Terrebonne Parish (Houma)	NEW JERSEY FY 2001 - $389,600 Piscataway	TENNESSEE FY 2000 - $297,504 Nashville FY 2001 - $167,788 Elizabethton
MARYLAND FY 2000 - $380,244 Baltimore City	NEW MEXICO FY 2000 - $253,983 Santa Fe FY 2001 - $387,111 Farmington	TEXAS FY 2000 - $612,175 McAllen Grand Prairie FY 2001 - $690,340 Austin Brooks County (Falfurrias)
MASSACHUSETTS FY 2000 - $689,219 Brookline Lawrence FY 2001 - $396,538 Cambridge	NEW YORK FY 2000 - $2,112,452 Community #3 (Brooklyn) Schenectady New York City (Brooklyn) Community #2 (NYC) Long Beach (Lido Beach) Community #13 (Brooklyn) FY 2001 - $390,245 Freeport	UTAH FY 2000 - $399,282 Davis (Farmington)
MICHIGAN FY 2000- $243,725 Mid-Michigan Academy (Lansing) FY 2001 - $392,427 Saginaw	OHIO FY 2000 - $763,069 Elyria Toledo	WASHINGTON FY 2000 - $350,431 Sunnyside FY 2001 - $396,292 Highline (Seattle)
MINNESOTA FY 2000 - $1,175,080 St. Cloud Rochester Rosemount FY 2001 - $376,038 Minneapolis	OKLAHOMA FY 2000 - $538,949 Madill McAlester FY 2001 - $460,096 Osage County Interlocal Cooperative (Hominy) Harrah Independent # 7	WEST VIRGINIA FY 2000 - $242,478 Upshur County (Buckhannon)
NEBRASKA FY 2000 - $350,931 Southern (Wymore)	PENNSYLVANIA FY 2000 - $378,662 Philadelphia	WISCONSIN FY 2000 - $381,261 Milwaukee FY 2001 - $191,210 Adams-Friendship Area (Friendship)
NEVADA FY 2000 - $400,000 Clark County (Las Vegas)	SOUTH CAROLINA FY 2000 - $614,837 Allendale County Lexington & Richland Counties (Ballentine) FY 2001 - $372,656 Sumter	WYOMING FY 2001 - $253,359 Natrona County (Casper)
NEW HAMPSHIRE FY 2000 - $366,943 Nashua	Elementary School Counseling Grants July 2001