Proposed Increase in Federal Funding for School Counselors

According to the American Counseling Association, the Senate Appropriations committee has preliminarily approved an increase in federal funding for school counselors; a $3.4 million increase from the previous year to a total of $52 million.

Congress will likely delay final action on any appropriations bill until after the election because of President Bush's veto threat. The ACA also reported:

We are very pleased that the full Senate Appropriations Committee and the House Appropriations subcommittee chose to reject, for the eighth year in a row, President Bush's request to eliminate all funding for the school counseling program.

Hard to understand why school counseling is such a consistent budget target given its importance to the success of our young people. Once again, we can count on the hard work of both the American Counseling Association and the American School Counselor Association (among others) to promote support for elementary and secondary school counselors.