From my Twitter(X) thread posted today.
This week the AZ House committee on health and human services (chaired by @TJShope) heard testimony on improving child health which included this claim - that AZ should have 2.5X more school counselors. Where did this ratio come from?
Answer: A trade group for school counselors, of course: American School Counselors Association, a voluntary org with no regulatory power that advocates members to adopt more active therapy-only roles in schools.
Mesa Public Schools and other districts require their counselors to implement the ASCA Model of behavioral health services.
I addressed this in my Petition to the Board of Behavioral Health filed this month, calling for the board to repeal its "no-touch" policy toward unregulated behavioral health practitioners in schools. There's no basis in the statutes to support that policy, and whatever assumptions about "guidance counselors" the Board had in 2003 when it issued the policy are no longer warranted.
"The [ASCA] has long advocated for the removal of non-counseling duties..and providing long-term therapy for students with psychological disorders."
There are over 1,500 school counselors in AZ now. And every year legislators demand MORE, citing this ASCA recommended ratio.
The more you know...
End.
Interestingly, Mesa has 2.5X the number of counselors on a per student basis as the state average, 1:355 vs 1:900. They want 1:250 because the ASCA says so.