Costly counselor plan angers school chiefs

School district superintendents are angry over a potentially expensive State Board of Education proposal that requires one counselor for every 350 secondary students.

Currently the ratio in some schools is as high as one counselor per 600 students. The state average is one counselor for every 395 students, according to the Utah State Office of Education.

The proposed rule, to be discussed by the board today, also states school counselors shouldn't do clerical work such as administering tests or changing class schedules.

If districts don't comply with the new rule, they would lose state funding.

The superintendents unanimously passed a resolution this week decrying the board's proposal.

While superintendents agree hiring more school counselors is a great idea, the concern is how to pay for them all.

Superintendents say this is clearly an "unfunded mandate." They contend the requirement would cause financial hardship on districts, resulting in larger class sizes, slashed school programs — or even tax increases.

"We're already carrying a heavy load. To jeopardize our minimum school funds is not just wrong — it's insane," Courtney Syme, North Sanpete School District superintendent said during a heated Utah School Superintendents Association meeting this week.

USOE officials say they plan to ask the Legislature for $8 million in new funding to hire counselors in junior high and high schools.

Last year USOE asked the Legislature for $9 million in new funding for school counselors and received only $1 million. The previous year, it requested $4 million and received $1 million.

Sen. Pat Jones, D-Salt Lake City, who serves on the Legislature's public education appropriations committee, supports the board's proposal. She said she believes the Legislature should put the funding request "as a priority."

National counseling associations actually recommend one counselor per 250 students, according to USOE. In order to reach the state school board's proposed 1-to-350 ratio, about 75 counselors would need to be hired statewide.

Utah school counselors, who are required to have master's degrees, earn on average $60,455 a year, including benefits.